PROGRESS 



OF 



LIFE AND THOUGHT, 



OR 



PAPA'S SCRAP BOOK." 



SIXTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE. 



ITS TEACHINGS: 

ESSENCE OF ALL ESSENTIALS. A USEFUL GEM IN EVERY HOUSE- 
HOLD. SOMETHING OF INTEREST TO EACH MEMBER 
OF THE FAMILY. TO DEVELOP A MODEL 
HOME. 



As we climb the hill cf science, 
This beautiful world to see, 

Progress is the watch-word, 
O'er the things that used to be. 




BY 



W. RICHARDS, 



AUTHOR XnD PUBLISHER. 

Please address all orders for Bocks to A. W. Richaids & Co* 

INDIANOLA, IOWA. 



DES MOINES: 

IOWA PRINTING COMPANY, 

Sept. 14, 1892. 







Entered according to act of Congress in the year J892, by 

A. W. RICHARDS, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PREFACE- 



If the object of looking into these few pages is good, I will hope 
to gratify it. If the purpose is criticism, there is an ''opening" 
for those that have a weakness in that direction, as I am well 
aware of the fact that what I do not know would make a very large 
book. I only aim to give you the essence of things known and 
honestly believed to be true. 

The first part of this work was originally written for my children's 
benefit, but will interest others, as the intent is to benefit all ages 
and classes of people. I have been a cripple since the first year of 
the late war. Helpless or worse, all of that time, I suffered beyond 
description the first ten years; yet by careful management and 
strong determination, with buoyancy of spirit I have overcome 
many difficulties in a measure during the last thirty years. So I 
have been a student for the benefit of those near to me as well as 
others, so that we may be of some benefit to each other by past 
experience. 

I, like many others, still feel in doubt whether I have ever yet 
got into my natural sphere in this mundane habitation. So that it 
is a duty we all owe to each other to aid in that direction. For if 
it is correct that we are all of the same blood and from the same 
source, as we have all been told, then we must be brothers, sisters, 
uncles, aunts, city or country cousins, and as we are always all 
right we must look after "that other chap.*' Hence, will throw in 
my mite and say something to the dear little ones, the children, 
the youth, the young folks, then to those that have to do with the 
stern realities of life, step by step till thev reach up to true man- 
hood. Beginning with the bud, the plays, the pleasures, the 
scenery and surroundings, the schools and teaching, training, 
habits of people, with domestic affairs and reminiscences of all 
kinds, health, habits, war, history, biography, mental philosophy, 
science and psychological questions, all in brief and more inci- 
dently than categorically. Yet all the time trying to keep in view 



4 PREFACE. 

the beacon star of a cheerful, happy, progressive life in culture, 
physically, mentally and morally, that will act as a telescope to 
look through by analogy from the highest point we may attain to 
the great beyond in search of the first cause of all we love to 
contemplate. 

,4 Let us gather up the sunbeams 

•Lying all around our path; 
Let us keep the wheat and roses, 

Casting out the thorns and chaff. 
Let us find our sweetest comfort 

In the blessings of to-day, 
With a patient hand removing 

All the briars from the way." 

The Atjthoe. 






j 







CORA. LOTTIE. 



EOSCOE. 



PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT 

OR 

SIXTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE 

ITS 

TEACHING. 



IP YOU HAVE REAP THE PREFACE, YOU WILL UNDERSTAND AND ENJOY WHAT FOL- 
LOWS BETTER. 



CHAPTER I. 

INFANCY. 



THE GOOD THAT THE CHILDREN DO 

A dreary Dlace would be this earth 

Were there no little people in it; 
The song of life would lose its mirth 

Were there no children to begin it. 
No little forms, like buds to grow, 

Arid make the admiring heart surrender; 
No little hands, on breast, and brow, 

To keep the thrilling love chords tender. 
No babe within our arms to leap. 

No little feet toward slumber tending; 
No little knee in prayer to bend. 

Our loving lips the sweet words lending. 
Life's song indeed would lose its charm, 

Were there no babies to begin it; 
A doleful place this world would be, 

Were there no little people in it. 

Dear Reader: I think I can take one theory for granted, with 
more assurance than common, that is, that you were at one time a 
babe, an infant, a pappoose — or still more dear, a baby — whether 
pretty, ugly, good, bad, red, black or white, the deeply interested 
mother and father could see a spark in you — as if it warf from the 
Great Creator — that gave hope of a good useful future, that made 
the parent feel a deep responsibility, that drew out equally deep, 
ardent love and jealous care, that watched over us all so faithfully 
during many years with toil, care and anxiety in providing for the 



6 INFANCY. 

little hopeful. If wisdom guide such parents, too great love, kind- 
ness and respect cannot be bestowed in return by the offspring. 

Please allow me to claim to have come under some one or more 
of the above described class of infants. T will claim for myself that 
I did have the care above described, and have still to a certain extent 
by a living mother. 

The inference from what has been said, would be that a father 
and mother were essential sixty years ago, to the budding of a new 
life into this world of ours, also in nourishing it after it did appear. 

And from what the writer has seen, heard and experienced since, 
he concludes that about that time he first began to u cry aloud" to 
4 'spare not" the nourishment necessary to develop the bust, that has 
only partially developed to this day. In other words, I was born 
September fourteenth, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, being a son 
of Eli and Elenor Richards, who lived near Fairfield, Columbiana 
County, Ohio. The purpose now is to give the genealogy and de- 
scent of the family in another part of this work, but I will say here 
that the Christian names of Grandfather and Mother Richards were 
Abijah and Ester. He was a minister in the Friends', or Quaker, 
church, but died some years before my parents were married, leav- 
ing a large family, of which my father was the youngest; Grand 
mother afterwards lived with us part of the time. 

Mother is the oldest child of Arthur and Nancy Wherry— from 
whence came my Christian names, A. "W. They were Baptists in 
belief, and all lived on farms in Columbiana County, Ohio, near 
the Pennsylvania line. 

It certainly is a good country from the productions, and the ten- 
acity with which so many "stay with it." The scenery among those 
old native hills, from East Palestine to Acertown and Fairfield, is 
grand, especially when covered with snow, among the huckleber- 
ries and evergreens. I think this scenery made the first strong 
impression on my mind after leaving the breast works, to contend 
with soup, bread and milk, chicken gravy, mashed potatoes, apple 
sauce and pumpkin pie. These with nuts, taffy, crullers, dough 
nuts twisters or whatever you call them, made time fly like pop 
corn. 

Pip pop 
Hip hop 
Tip top 
Pop corn. 

Out of the pan 

Into the lire, 
Bursting and bouncing 

Higher and higher. 



INFANCY. 7 

White as new snow, 

Yellow as gold, 
You'd better be patient 

Till it is cold. 

SLEIGH RIDING. 

Those that were born in the fall naturally see the winter season 
before the summer and getting plenty of sleigh rides while being 
taken by the proud mother and father to grandpa's, uncles, aunts, 
cousins and friends generally to show the baby. Thus you see we 
little fellows soon leara to hold the lines, showing how bright we 
are, then hold "pappy" and ''mammey," by the lines of love or 
worry, frequently the latter, till we drive ourselves into what some 
folks call "total depravity." Then we little sinners have to be 
watched, scolded, tormented by everybody till we think it is the 
fashion and without reason or patience left follow it. When with 
proper care of health patience, firm kindness and common sense 
training, all will drive clear of depravity, and be as happy as I 
was with my first kite, or sister was with her new doll. 

THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Mother was a "school ma'm" before my advent, this time at 
least I learn, and hence had learned the art of training the young 
idea in the way it should go. So she gave me a start in that 
direction. While in this honorable occupation she attracted father's 
attention while a } r oung man in the vicinity, a farming, a fortunate 
circumstance for me. They first lived in a cabin, just to make a 
beginning I suppose at the bottom of the ladder, then near Fair- 
field, where I was born; they moved on to a good farm where there 
was a good hewed log house on the road a few miles from said 
place, toward New Lisbon, the county seat, where they stayed till 
I was seven years old, and did very well. While there Albert, 
Melissa Ann, Caroline and Mark, my brothers and sisters, were 
born. 

We went about a mile to school. The house was quite good and 
stood in a nice natural grove, and was used also for a Quaker church. 
I am not very clear as to what I learned there; have a slight recollec- 
tion that there was a very large wood stove with long legs — for 
about that time such stoves came into use; that the teacher required 
mischievous unruly, boys to creep under, to humble them, ''cut 
their feathers," or give them a little fore taste of w T hat was to come, 
etc. I am not sure that I was ever a subject, but somehow I had a 
dread of the spot, and Co not think I made great proficiency in the 



8 INFANCY. 

ABC and Ab's which was the routine then, but the grove and 
pasture field were splendid places in which to play in the summer 
season. I was rather small to remember just what the plays were, but 
much the same as those engaged in now-a-days I think, under like 
circumstances. There was a large mill-pond close by that was used 
in winter to skate on. 

To tell the bad with the good faithfully I must say we found the 
itch there by some careless parents sending their children to school, 
but found -it need not last long where there is energy and clean- 
liness. 

I remember distinctly the appearance of the hills and valleys as I 
look back in memory, when all was green and beautifully roman- 
tic, as we would go from time to time visiting my grandparents 
and the many other friends there, as they appeared then; they are 
probably changed now very much. On one occasion, while at 
Uncle Abijah's, one of my cousins put my little sister, Caroline, I 
think, in the hopper of the fanning mill to shake her in play, or 
plague me, and I tried to stop him, but in doing so my lingers were 
caught between two large cog wheels and mashed flat, taking the 
nail and part of the end of the finger off, which still leaves its mark 
to warn others. 



It would make your eyes brighten these days, even where there 
is silver ware, if you could see such a cupboard of pewter and tin 
ware as Grandmother K. had. There were large, round platters 
from twenty inches in diameter down ; all as bright as new silver 
and nicely arranged and kept so. 

While she lived with us afterward, she seemed to love to assist in 
keeping our little bodies and feet as neat and clean as was possible 
and saying in kind, sweet words, "Thee must not do this," or "Thee 
must not do that again." 

Oh, what wonderful good impressions can be made by kind words! 
I often wish I could use them more. 

Notwithstanding the training father received among the 
"Friends," he and mother joined Alexander Campbell's church 
organization in that vicinity under his preaching, which society has 
grown to considerable proportions since and is progressive. I think 
father was consistent, liberal, faithful and kind, during life in 
such matters. 



INFANCY. 



HORSES RUNNING OFF. 



The sight of horses running off will make an impression on any- 
one's mind, "let alone" a little boy as I was when father's team, a 
very fine large iron gray pair of horses, that had started off so 
quickly that he could not catch them, from where he was loading 
wood on a sled in the timber, some two miles from home. He had 
trusted them too far without hitching — a dangerous thing to do. 
At that time the ground was frozen and icy with a bed of snow over 
it; the horses ran astride of a stump which broke them apart and 
loose from the sled, and they ran for home with terrible speed. 
When I first saw them coming down the long lane, they were close 
together fairly flying, when the lightest colored one seemed to slip 
or lose all balance or foot hold, and fell broad side on the icy road, 
the other one breaking all reins that probably still connected them, 
without hardly breaking his great speed, passed near me at the 
house to the barn yard, reindeer style over the large gate, all right 
and safe; but the other one did not get up, and we did not know 
father's fate, but after awhile he came all right, and with the assist- 
ance of neighbors that collected lifted the fallen horse up, but found 
he had fallen on a sharp stone that had broken his shoulder so 
that he had no use of it; they partly carried him so that he hopped 
along to the barn where they placed a side of sole leather under his 
body, and with ropes swung him partially up to the joist, hoping by 
that means to care for the injury so that he might get well, but he 
suffered so severely nothwithstanding his good care for the several 
days, that father concluded it was his duty to kill him to relieve 
him of his suffering, notwithstanding the less of so valuable ahorse. 

FESTIVITIES. 

What is there more pleasant for children to remember than holi- 
day festivities. Those were pleasant to remember— not alone when 
we went elsewhere, but at our house, when we had apple parings, 
quiltings and such parties, for socials were not do nothing parties in 
those days, but were turned to some good use that helped each 
other which takes away formality and adds greatly to happiness, 
and the }^oung ideas will develop if not enjoy greatly the antics 
of youngsters, frequently comprehending more than is generally 
supposed, and take in a full share of the sweetmeats, if they do 
suffer for it afterwards. But such is life, if experience is a dear 
school. Yet the little "chaps" must have their taffy, candy, nuts, 
raisins, dolls, skates, pretty books and papers and such things, then 



10 * INFANCY. 

thank God and all good people for the blessings vouchsafed to 
them. Though we had few Christmas trees we had plenty of big 
chimneys in those daj r s well represented in the Atlantic in the 
following lines: 

SANTA CLAU8. 



The new moon saw a funny sight, 

As it looked on the world one winter's night; 

It saw old Santa Claus, presents and all, 

Sitting above a chimney wall, 

Where he had been caught in a wretched plight, 

For^he had found the chimney wall so tight 

That his knee was skinned and his pants were torn, 

And poor old Santa Claus felt forlorn. 

"Surely I've grown a little stout, 

Since a year ago I went about, 

Or, it may be, the chimney has narrower grown, 

Yet such a thing was never known; 

I have it! the fall of snow last night 

Has lllled the chimney and made it tight. 

It might have been worse," he said, at last, 

"For a little smaller and I had been fast; 

And the world had forever laughed o'er the fate 

Of a Santa Claus trapped by his heavy weight." 

Then he sat himself down in the soft white snow, 

To make up his mind where he should go. 

"One thing is certain, 'twill never do 

To try to go down a fashionable flue, 

So the rich must loo 1 ! out for a different way 

To make themselves happy on Christmas Day. 

'Tis a blessed day the poor can have. 

Where the chimneys allow me to enter and give." 

And he gathered together his wonderful pack, 

And strapped it anew upon his back. 

Then he jumped in his sleigh and took up his reins, 
And his reindeer ponies thought it strange, 
That he drove to the houses where dwelt the poo», 
Instead of the rich man's cheery door; 
Then out in the country, o'er fields of snow, 
Where the children scarce a Christmas know, 
And down the broad chimneys a"century ok!, 
Leaving gifts that were better than silver ana gold. 
The moon smiled to see him look down at his knee, 
And say to himself, "Who will mend this for me? 
Sure tor once in my life I'm a regular hero, 
To go on this way when the weather is zero." 

When the children awoke, there were shoutings of joy 

Such as never was heard. And many a boy, 

A» well as his sister, said, "What can it mean, 

Such beautiful things we never have seen. 

I'm afraid we shall find there has been a mistake, 

Or else we are dreaming and not half awake," 

While the grumblings and pourings, and murmuring loud, 

From the children whom fortune has spoiled and made proud, 

Were soon all forgot in the general glee 

Of Christmas games, candies and a beautiful tree. 



INFANCY. 11 



Old Santa drove off to- his home at the pole, 
Delighted and jolly; said he, 4 * 'pon my soul 
'Tis the best Christmas work I ever have done, 
To make the poor happy is marvelous fun. 
With ten thousand or more to visit next year 
I'm sure to be busy, and sure to bring cheer, 
How people can live who have but a few- 
Is a marvel to me. Pray, what can they do?" 



A LITTLE BOY'S WANTS. 



FIRST YEAR. 

"He wants a merry rattle, 

He wants a rubber ring, 
He wants a dainty swing-crib, 

He wants mamma to sing. 

SECOND YEAR. 

Ho wants a baby -dolly, 

Be wants to dig for shells, 
He wants a penny trumpet, 

He wants a string of bells. 

THIRD YEAR. 

He wants some blocks for building, 

lie wants a horse on wheels. 
He wants a little wagon, 

To till with empty reels. 

FOURTH YEAR. 

He wants a sword and pistol, 

He wants a life and drum, 
He wants some books with pictures, 

Bo-Peep and brave Tom Thumb. 

FIFTH YEAR. 

He wants a cap and muiiler, 

He wants some mittens red, 
He wants to skate on rollers, 

He wants to own a sled. 

SIXTH YEAR. 

He wants big boots like father's, 

He wants a "v'lossipede," 
He wants a slate and pencil; 

He wants to learn to read. 

SEVENTH YEAR. 

He wants a goat and carriage, 

And just a few things more — 
Well, wait and see what Santa Claus 

Can spare from out his store." 

—Kate Lawrence. 



OHAPTEK II. 

Childhood, from Seven to Fourteen. 

MOVE. 

About this time my parents concluded to move southwest nearly 
two hundred and fifty miles, into Gallia county, still in Ohio, by 
land, as it was then called, in a covered wagon. While it was 
looked upon as a great undertaking by the older heads, we children 
thought it would be fun, but it turned out like the boy's lamb that 
he undertook to carry a few miles, he thought it heavier every step 
of the way. You have probably heard fretful people talk of 
having "so many ups and downs" in this world. If that road did 
not have more than its share of them I am no judge, as we were 
frequently crossing tributaries to the Ohio river, in a section of the 
country wherever you find a valley there are two hills to guard it. 
Still many people manage to live there, some happy and growing 
rich, others too poor to sit on the fence; with them it was root pig 
or die. You may be in the same fix, for it is fashionable still, 
where they can't help it. So we could have sympathy or good 
cheer alternately, as well as hills and hollows, but got along safe 
so far as I now remember. 

Brother Albert, some fifteen months younger than I, being more 
the make up of mother's side of the house, large and bony, by that 
time was as large as I, who had more of the vital temperament like 
father and his folks, so that with our blue roundabouts and brass 
buttons we were spoken of as twins constant!}' during the trip by 
those we met, so that we attracted more attention than our share. 
The next two were pretty little sister, the youngest then a heavy 
boy babe, which made the trip a hard one on mother. Her caution 
requiring father to watch the horses constantly; she thought bridges 
and steep places unsafe to ride over. But we got to our destina- 
tion with good appetites for what ever presented itself, near where 
Ewington, in Gallia county, Ohio, now is. 

CLEARING. 

The farm on which we moved, was one that had been partly 
improved several years and belonged then to Hiram Burt, a rela- 
tive of ours. Father proceeded to clear up more land, which gave us 




STELLA. 



STERLING. 



SIM. 



CHILDHOOD. 13 

boys our first experience in picking and piling and burning brush, 
which was fun for us a while but after a little became work; still it 
had to be done. The rolling of the big logs together in * 'heaps" to 
be burnt was men's work. The neighbors occasionally turned out 
and helped each other in "a log rolling." At one time when I 
was assisting father in moving some logs, on a sideling place, he 
fixed a u hand-spike," about as big as my arm and six feet long, 
against one end of a large log and put it on my shoulder to hold 
while he moved the other end, in doing so it turned suddenly on to 
me, bending my spike and fastening me under the end of it, but 
with a tremendous effort on father's part he released me, but it 
taught me a lesson that I made practical during the large 
amount of that kind of work we did in after years. 

LOG SCHOOL-HOUSE. 

The log school-house on the hillside was close to us; a comfortable, 
neat place, with the old-fashioned "bench" split out of pretty straight 
grained logs, and if they happened to be placed against the wall 
you had backing, otherwise you must sit up straight like a little 
man and study your lesson, with occasional glances at the big "switch" 
four to six feet long, up over the large fireplace or in the kind (?) 
teacher's hand. I remember of crossing the floor very suddenly 
under such influence and being sat down among the girls to learn 
better. I suppose after I had disturbed the fellow in front of me 
with a pin I think, and foolishly laughed "out loud in meetin' " I got 
caught that time. 

VACCINATION. 

Brother Madison A. was born while we lived there, an import- 
ant event to him and the world. I suppose he and they felt as the 
rest of us felt about it at that time. All had to be vaccinated, which 
we dreaded as though it amounted to something. It does indicate 
that there was small-pox not far away, and it was best to break its 
force if it came nearer. As I have incidentally and closely connected 
my brother's name, I will remark, so may he break the force of sin, 
inasmuch as they are alike contagious. 

ARM BROKE. 

The breaking of an arm is an event that anybody would remem- 
ber. One beautiful Sabbath morning in the fall when we had just 
enough frost to put the finishing touch on the forest leaves and the 
autumn fruits were all ripe and secured except the persimmon — 
that makes my mouth water, and pucker to think of, which was just 



14 CHILDHOOD. 

beginning to get good — father and mother started out to the back 
of the field to get some of them, and left us children playing in the 
yard. One of them remarked to us, "Now be good children and 
don't run romp and break your bones." I think I said, "We 
won't/' but we were eating apples and after a little bit; brother Albert 
went down to the spring, a beautiful basin cut in a rock, that had high 
grassy banks around on all but one side; he lay down to drink 
out of it; while he was doing so I threw my apple core from where 
I stood on the bank into the water, splashing it all over his face; 
then he x up and after me with vengeance in his eyes. I laughed 
too heartily to run well, but climbed two or three fences on quick 
time, fell from the top of the last high one, which shocked me, but 
still got up and ran like a tow-head for several rods, before I dis- 
covered that my left arm was broken, both bones half way from the 
wrist to elbow, sticking out at right angles; then I changed my tune 
to fit the variation in the drama, which soon brought parents back. 
But I never have since tried the game over, and would not advise 
others to do so. The doctor that set my arm only extended the 
splints to my wrist when one should have extended into the hand; 
the result was, that my arm grew in a twist by the weight of my 
hand as it hung down while carrying it in a sling. So you see I 
paid very dearly for my ill-mannered fun. 

BUY A FARM. 

By hard work and economy my parents saved money enough to 
buy a farm on Strong's Run, a few miles distant. This was all paid 
for except two hundred dollars. Then we moved onto it, and im- 
proved largely for two years during the hard times, or scarcity of 
money, from 1840 to 1844. When the mortgage for the two hun- 
dred dollars became due father had plenty of stock to sell to pay it, 
but could not get money for any of it, not even during a trip for 
that purpose, with two fine salable horses, to Columbiana county 
and back on the horses, about five hundred miles. So the mortgage 
was foreclosed without a day, mercy or necessity, and we had to 
leave the place and lose the hard earned money and improvements 
that we had come to feel was our home. 

While living there another brother, Eli Harvey, was born; the 
seventh and last, a very pretty child. 

Among the incidents that come to my mind while still there, 
was my first attempt to imitate some men by chewing tobacco. 
It made me very sick. It is said that experience is a dear school, 
but that fools will learn at no other. I never tried it again, and 



CHILDHOOD. 15 

have never found that it made a boy manly. I have seen thou- 
sands who by its use have become coarse, vulgar, degraded in 
intellect and prone to other bad habits, ruinous to manhood. You 
will find that principle makes the man. 

I also tried eating paw-paws. No go! though many love them. 
They were very plenty, are generally something larger than a 
goose egg, dark brown or black when ripe. They grow on bushes 
from ten to twenty feet high. 

From there we went two miles to school, over a big hill that was 
quite a task for the little fellows when the snow was deep; got 
there tired and got right down to study or learning to write with 
our goose quill pens; but when it was pleasant weather we fre- 
quently enjoyed it and it gave us an appetite that made lunch 
taste good. Besides we could in the fall and winter gather winter- 
green and the berries on the bluff hill sides, which were splendid 
eating; those, with the hazel nuts, walnuts, hickory nuts and chest- 
nuts, frequently made it seem good to be there. 

CELESTIAL FROLICS. 

We frequently had heavy thunder storms that seemed to worry 
dear mother very much, which had no doubt much to do with my 
feelings on the matter, yet there was always such a grandeur of 
movements on such occasions that I loved to watch them and see 
the lightning play its pranks . 

One summer's evening came an unusual display, that seemed un- 
usually close, with peal after peal of thunder coming nearer; still I 
staid on the porch watching, when in a twinkle, the lightning struck 
a very large straight tree, a few rods distant, and tore one side of 
it ail into slivers which flew at a fearful rate, altogether making one 
of the grandest sights I ever witnessed; then it cleared, Nature's 
great .orb made his appearance most grandly, then with the bright 
pure sky we could look up and with another say: 

When the sun had put his night-cap on 

And covered o'er his head. 
Then countless stars appeared amid 

The curtains 'round his bed. 

The moon arose most motherly, 

To take a quiet peep — 
How all the stars behaved, while he, 

Her sovereign, was asleep. 

She saw them wink their silvery eyes, 

As if in roguish play; 
Tho' silent all to her they seemed 

As if they'd much to say. 



16 CHILDHOOD. 

So lest their winking should disturb 

The sleeping king of light, 
She rose so high that her mild eye 

Could keep them all in sight. 

The stars abashed, stole softly back 

And looked demure and prim, 
Until the moon began to nod. 

Her eyes becoming dim. 

Then sleepily she sought her home — 
That's somewhere — who knows where — 

But, as she went, the playful stars 
Commenced their twinkling glare. 

And when the moon was fairly gone 

The imps with silvery eyes, 
Had so much fun it woke the sun, 

And he began to rise. 

He rose in glory; from his eye 

Sprang forth"a new-born day, 
Before whose brightness all the stars, 

Ran hastily away. 

MOVE. 

We now move some two miles, near the school house on an old 
farm belonging to the Frederick's, two miles from Yinton, into a 
double log house. " Grandma Frederick," as we called her, lived in a 
large frame ho :.se set up high on blocks. One of her sons, a very- 
large man, soon came home and shook with the ague in the old 
fashioned way that made the large house tremble. We children 
getting a hint of it and never having seen the like, slipped on to 
the porch to look in. There he sat by the fire making every thing 
rattle. It looked solemn to us at first, as it was to him, but he 
noticed our excited gaze, and manlike smiled — oh what a smile — 
that broke the spell, and we all laughed " fit to split our sides " at 
the ridiculous looking performance. But the next day before the 
time for the shake to come on again, he said he would try his plan 
to cure it — that was go out to a clearing and go to grubbing and 
work hard, as he did all day. Sweating freely, there was no chill 
that day; I am not sure how long he had had it; by using the remedy 
above I think he did not have it again. Try it. 

OUR GREAT LOSS. 

Father had got in his fall wheat and prepared some ground for 
spring after coming from where we had lost our home, and pre- 
pared some for winter, for he was a prudent man that provided 
for his household and did not forget others. I was the first that 
took sick with what the doctor there called winter fever and was 
quite low for some weeks; during which time some three or four 



CHILDHOOD. 17 

more of the children were taken down with it. I got so that I 
could get about a little but was weak and fell and broke my collar- 
bone, which interfered with my helping others for sometime. 
November 14, 1844, our little baby brother, Eli Harvey, died of 
the same fever; but a few days before was a healthy, bright, 
pretty and good child just beginning to run around the yard; he 
was nearly fourteen months old. The pet of the household — the 
first to be taken from the family, and we laid the little pet in the 
graveyard at Wilksville, now in Vinton county, Ohio. 

But he had gone to sleep with a tender smile 
Frozen on his silent lips, 
By the farewell kiss of his dewy breath, 
Cold in the clasp of angel death 
The last born bud of our family wreath, 

Whose bloom the early frost hath nipped. 

Over the bosom tenderly 

The pure white hands are pressed; 
The lashes lie on his cheeks so thin, 
Where the softest brush of the rose hath been, 
Shutting the blue of his eyes within 
The pearly lids closed to rest. 

Hearts where the darling's head hath lain, 

Held by love's shinning ray — say farewell. 
We know the touch of his gentle hand 
Brightens the harp in the unknown land. — 
That he waits for us with the angel band, 
High up in the starry way. 

Father attended brother's funeral, came home and took sick for 
the first time in his life, with the same fever, suffered severlly for 
two weeks and died, December 23d, 1844 in great peace, yea 
triumphing over death with the escort of angels that he said he could 
see awaiting to take him to that bright home above. His mind 
seemed to be perfectly clear to the last breath, which was used in pro- 
nouncing a blessing on his faithful companion and their children; all 
could not get to his bed side they were so low. The rest of the 
family had a seige of the fever, except mother, who had worked so 
hard and cared for all and still had to for a long time. About this 
time two or three of the children were very low, but finally recovered. 

He who looked on the cheerful side of things, gave cheerful life 
and spirit to all around, was dead. 



1 8 CHILDHOOD 

Our Father who loved us, 

He who tried to obey the goldeu rule, 

Was now dead to us, but alive to God, 

Having been faithful over a few things 

Could now claim the promise to rule over many. 

He could sing buoyantly 

As he did in his last hours: 

"Life is the time to serve the Lord, 
The time to insure the great reward. 
And while the lamp holds out to burn 
The vilest sinner may return." 

The exemplary, noble, manly spirit had taken its flight, leaving 
only the outer mundane body, to be buried by the side of brother 
at Wilksville cemetery, near the southeast corner. 

BROKE UP. 

The winter passed and the rest of us got as well as could be ex- 
pected after a course of medicine. 

The writer, only twelve years old, and the oldest, could not be 
expected to work a large farm, hence we had to leave it. So the 
next thing to do was to turn such stock as we had to paying the big 
doctor bill, funeral and other extra expenses. This left us only 
one team, a cow and a few sheep. 

We now moved onto Esq. Wilcox's farm, into a log house. 
Mother, with six children, feeling that we were truly broken up, 
but went to work with the best heart we could, mother spinning, 
weaving and sewing from day to day for years. 

Albert and I then put in a few acres of corn and some other 
things. Soon after loaned one of our horses to a neighbor to go to 
mill with, for those days it was quite common to take a sack of corn 
or wheat on the horse's back and go a few miles to mill. ' But be- 
fore he got out of the field where we lived the horse fell dead under 
him. On examination the cause was found to be bots. This left 
us with only one horse. With him, however, we cultivated our little 
field of corn, till I think it was about the tenth of June, 1845, when I 
think it was about knee high to a man, there come such a frost as was 
said, never was known in that section of country at that time of year; 
it killed the corn down to the ground; when the sun come out and 
thawed it, it fell down fiat to the ground. But we were not the 
only ones to be at a loss to know what to do; many plowed up their 
corn ground and put in other things; this we could not do for want 
of another horse; nearly every body said it could not grow in that 
condition, and if it did it would do no good, but in a few days that 



CHILDHOOD. 19 

which had fallen was soft and dark colored, and all seemed to take 
a new start from the roots, and we could almost see it grow with a 
cracking or snapping noise, and finally made a very fair crop. 

Brother and I, when not busy at home and could get work among 
the neighbors, could get only twenty-five cents per day; but this 
always beats nothing and was generally pleasant, but when it 
comes to putting little boys to spvouting and grubbing alone, long 
days, for a week or more at a time, and tortured with millions 
of little ticks, and feed him "corn dodgers" and fat meat grease or 
sour milk and nothing else for a week at a time, is more than 
human nature could endure. More than once, it makes me shud- 
der now to think of that one time; I thought it would look as if I 
lacked pluck to quit, but never was so silly again. If there are 
coarse people that will live worse and more indecent than the 
lower animals, and manage to do every thing in the wrong time 
of year, let them do it themselves. Seek employment elsewhere. 
Do not delay a day, for every one counts something out to you or 
others, but keep out of "hell" as long as you can. I would much 
prefer working for the good old Quaker who chided me once for 
putting butter and molasses both on my bread at once. 



Another little thing occurred while I was working for this last 
man, that made a lasting impression on my mind. Friends 
meetings were occasionally held at his house. When it occurred all 
hands stopped and sat with them an hour, in silent meditation; 
just before one of those occasions, he got the idea in his head of 
getting the start of others in the neighborhood in making a horse 
rake, that some one had told him how to make by taking a large 
square rail and boring holes in it and putting large, long pins in 
and an arrangement to hitch to, so it would roll over when wanted, 
and had hurried up and just got it done in the back yard as all the 
Friends came into the house quietly and promptly at the time; as is 
customary with them, all the hands came with them. I sat thinking 
solemnly, during the time. At the close, the highest in authority 
commenced to shake hands, which went all around quite solemn to 
me. Judge of my surprise just at this juncture to hear my em- 
ployer belch out the first word spoken in a loud tone of voice to 
one of the brethren, "Nathan, thee has not seen my new horse 
rake. Oh, I have got one;" as though he was ready to burst if he 
did not tell it. Nathan said, "Is that so?" The answer came 
quick and strong, "Yes, it is; come right along and see it." And 



20 CHILDHOOD. 

the invitation was extended to the others present. I could but 
feel he had thought of nothing else, which, in my verdancy, 
shocked me. But I have learned that, "a body can't most always 
tell another's thoughts. ' ; But I do think "actions speak louder 
than words." But when both come together it is doubly sure. 

You may learn caution from this and not allow the things of the 
greatest importance to be lost sight of by undue excitement over 
comparatively trifling things. 

PLAY. 

Work makes play enjoyable occasionally, when one can get 
time to do so, if you do not do as the writer did once, run head first 
against a big black stump, in playing blackman. 

The ball and bat, 
Tit for tat, 
Catch the rat, 
This and that. 

High or low, 

Up the hill we go, 

On the beautiful snow, 

Down on the sled you know. 

A boy that has a mind 
Employment can find; 
If it's on an old see-saw, not mine, 
That you may here find. 

ODD SEE-SAWS. 

I saw a cow hide in the grass, 

A rush-light on the floor; 
I saw a candle-stick in the mud, 

And a bell-pull on the door; 
I saw a horse fly up the creek, 

A cat-nip at her food; 
I saw a chestnut-bur and heard 

A shell-bark in the wood; 
I saw a jack-plane off a board, 

A car-spring off the track; 
I saw a saw-dust off the floor, 

And then a carpet-taok; 
I saw a monkey-wrench a hat 

From a fair lady's pate; 
I saw a rattle snake a bird, 

And a hogs-head on a plate. 
I saw a brandy-smash a glass, 

I saw a shooting star, 



CHILDHOOD. 21 

I heard the corns-talk in the field, 

And a pig-iron crow bar; 
I saw a pin-wheel off a post, 

And wheel wright in the shop; 
I saw a gin-sling on the bar, 

I saw a ginger-pop; 
I saw a house-fly o'er a field, 

I saw an ox-roast too; 
I saw a shad-row and clam-bake, 

And saw a chicken-stew; 
I saw a sword-fish from a bank, 

I heard the water-spout; 
I saw tobacco-spit and then 

I heard an eye-ball out; 
I saw a fence-rail at the din, 

I heard the waist-band play 
A lovely strain — a sweet spit-toon — 

And then I went away. 



CHAPTER III. 

Youth, Fourteen to Twenty-one. 

CHANGE LOCATION. 

We again move a few miles; now into Salem township, in Meigs 
county, Ohio, two miles from Wilksville, onto the Blacklage farm, 
a snug home-like house and farm, in which vicinity we lived during 
a long period of time, and made things move along to some 
purpose. 

THE WHISKY SELLER. 

This was a more than usually good neighborhood, cultured, well 
to do people, the Nelsons, Strongs, Ponds, Thompsons, Shaws, 
Fordices, Russells, Davises, Webbs, Thomases, Calhouns, Crowds, 
Keeperses, Longstreths and many others. Some time after we 
came into this vicinity, a man who lived near us, went out to the 
"iron works" which was plentifully supplied from twenty to fifty 
miles, where they take the oar from the hills and melt it and make 
it into wnat they call "pig" bars such as a man can handle, which 
with the woodchopping makes business for many men. This man 
while there took ague and came home very much worse for the wear 
and shaking, like Belshazzar of old. The remedy then, as now 
with many people, was whisky principally, with it occasionally 
other truck, but it must be had if "the plow stands" or the children 
cry for bread, so I was sent for it, to a whisky shop kept by one 
George Arbaugh, there were also a few other things in his small 
house, which was situated less than two miles from us. I called 
for what I was sent for; he drew it, put it up all right, then drew 
about a gill in a glass, and very politely offered it to me. I de- 
clined. He said, "Drink it, it won't hurt you." "I don't want it 
anyway," said I. He said, "Why drink, I drew it for you." I 
declined and made a move like starting. He, with a stern mean 
look, stepped around between me and the door, and demanded that 
I should " take it and drink it; it won't hurt you," and putting it 
in my hand. I put it to my lips and tasted it only and handed it 
back quickly stepping out past him, and out of the yard, feeling 
anything but pleasant toward him. 




ELLA. JOHN. 



FRANK. 



YOUTH. 23 

Some time after this occurred I was working for a neighbor, 
Mr. Jonathan Thomas, whose wife, Mrs. Hanna Thomas, had 
gained an excellent reputation as a public speaker on slavery and 
temperance, throughout that section of country and was highly 
appreciated by her neighbors at home. In the course of our 
conversation while there I related the above facts to her. In 
a few weeks there was an appointment for her to speak on 
temperance in the school house, within a half mile of the said 
whisky shop. The people turned out en masse, as usual, to hear 
her, for she always had something to say worth hearing. The 
dealer in whisky and tobacco was there, and so was I. Y et the 
lecture went on all the same. She went on to delineate principles, 
character, habits, influence, circumstances, till all were in a white 
heat, then "borax" was needed to weld them together, so she went 
on and related the above facts, just as a loving mother, with her 
tongue loose at "both ends" could do, saying the parties were 
both in the house, making it very plain just who we were, making 
a trembling among the dry bones such a feeling as is seldom felt in 
any congregation, and bringing the hardened sinner to judgment 
sooner than he looked for, no doubt. I would not have been in his 
shoes for his farm. 

You may be desirous of knowing what followed and the fate of 
that man. All wrong doing is in violation of some natural law, if 
not of statute laws, the violation of which brings its penalty, if not 
in some outward, visible way, it must injure one's finer feelings. 
Being conscious of the wrong done, one is not happy in the better 
sense no difference what amount of this world's goods he may ob- 
tain, for it is the qualities of heart and mind that makes the man, 
in wealth and happiness. 

Well, things went on as usual in that vicinity for many months, 
the dealer keeping up his business as best he could, notwithstanding 
he was a church member and a professed Christian; but the above 
facts and other things worried the brethren till, I think, he was 
"dropped," and where he fell to in heart and feelings I could not 
say, but he certainly did not have the appearance of a man that saw 
any pleasure. Some people who believed in special providence, 
thought it applicable to the bad as well as the good, hence the final 
fate of this whisky seller. At all events it so happened, that he rode 
out some distance from the house one day, on horseback, said to be 
a very quiet horse, but from some cause the horse made a sudden 
jump with him on it, which quick motion, the dotors said, caused a 
knot to be tied in his intestines which, of course, caused pain that 



24 YOUTH. 

grew worse and worse for several days, the doctors using every 
means and remedy they usually do. But he grew worse and worse 
till they took to their last resort, that is, they took some of his to- 
bacco and boiled it, took the juice and poured that into him. But 
to no purpose, only that it added to his torture that was beyond 
human nature to bear. It was one of the most horrible sights I 
ever saw; the poor fellow screamed, raved and tore at the clothes 
till death intervened. 

Whisky and tobacco may be of use somewhere, but in sixty 
years' experience I have never found them a necessity. Frequently 
used so. as to kill men and lice on cattle, and generally shortens 
life materially I have no doubt. So I cannot see where the benefit 
would come in to use them in any way, and if you begin a bad habit 
it will be likely to result like the little boy's cannon. He put in the 
powder and just lightly touched the match, a mere spark, but the 
thing went off and bursted itself all to pieces and left devastation 
and ruin all aroimd. When the boy was asked what he did it for, 
he said, "The thing got going and I could not stop it." 



A is the young man's first glass of ale. 

B is the beer which next will prevail. 

C is the cider, so simple at first, causing in future unquenchable thirst. 

D is the dram taken morn, noon and eve. 

E is the extra one — eleven I believe. 

F is the flip, thought so good for a cold. 

G is the gin, not so pure as of old. 

H is the hotel where often he goes. 

I is the inner room he so well knows. 

J is the jug he there fills to the brim. 

K is the knocking of conscience withm. 

L is the landlord who smiles when you drink. 

Mis your money he's getting, I think. 

N is the nightmare which visits your brain. 

O is the orgies of the midnight rain. 

P is the poor, penniless pauper you become. 

Q is the quarrel, the product of rum. 

R is the ruin rum brings to your door. 

S is the suffering ne'er known before. 

T is the tremens that make few calls ere death ensue. 

U is the undertaker who comes to your aid. 

V is the valley where your body is laid. 
W is the wretched wail and woe 
Xecrable drunkards alone can know. 

Y is the yearning for misspent time. 

Z is the zenith of the drunkard's clime. 



YOUTH. 25 

HORSE TAMING. 

Boys generally think it a thing to boast a little of to succeed in 
handling horses that have not been handled, or those that others 
fail to be able to handle from any cause. It is a dangerous busi- 
ness, and no one should undertake it who has not had experience in 
handling other horses, and but few of them. They should have 
large caution, human nature, causality, will power, and activity; 
then he may succeed. 

Having been used to handling horses and cattle, or oxen, as we 
call them, and not having discovered anything to be afraid of, I 
probably had my full share of assurance in that matter. So it hap- 
pened that one fall we were gathering in our crop of broom corn, 
that we hired a Mr. Allen to come with his team a few days to 
assist us. We had all heard of his black mare that everybody was 
so afraid of, and how vicious she was, that she had conquered all 
but two men that had ever tried to handle her and injured two 
severely. Those that did conquer had taken advantage of her and 
whipped her to it. He brought her into the field and cautioned all 
to stand aloof and keep back. We did so and she went along very 
well till we got a little used to it, he moving them from time to 
time by leading them up, going to her and speaking to her as he 
took hold of the bridle close to the bit. She did not seem to notice 
him much, and as he was rather slow in moving up so many times, 
even when asked to do so, I became a little impatient and thought 
I would move them up and she would not see me or know the dif- 
ference So I deliberately walked up and took hold of both reins, 
probably a little more firmly than usual, and spoke coarsely as he 
did to her, a kind of imitation, that she detected quick, then the 
fight began, for I was not the kind to let go when a little "spunked 
up," besides it was not safe to do so then. She pitched right at me, 
as if she would swallow me, but the little fellow held a firm grasp 
and stiff arm and did not go down. This was repeated a few times, 
but no go. Then she reared up as high as she could get, striking with 
her feet; the little chap went up in this movement with her head a 
time or two, but was too short to get struck with her feet, and when 
she came down I was on my feet, and interested then in the fight, 
and in fighting earnest, so when on my feet again I shook her with 
all the power in me and spoke as earnest as if I was somebody. She 
stopped and looked at me and I at her till she looked subdued; I 
showed her I was victorious. This was all done much quicker than 
I can tell it, and so viciously on her part that the owner could not 



26 YOUTH. 

help, besides he was slow and cautious, and scared, as of course 
mother was, who happened to be in sight, but he said I had con- 
quered her which I felt was so, and had grown a little by the shaking 
up I got; so I handled her frequently from that time on, but with 
caution and firmness. 

This set me up among the boys as one that would do to tie to in 
that direction. You know a fellow might be good for that and 
nothing else, and one success gives an additional pluck for another, 
hence had colts jump so quick with me as to jump from under my 
hat more than once. But I don't remember of ever being fairly 
thrown, l)ut was got rid of once; I will tell you, so that you may 
judge whether the colt treated me fair. Some folks say everything 
is fair in war, but I don't know about that. 

WAS THEOWED. 

I wanted to go six miles away, and went to a clever neighbor's to 
get a horse; they were using all they had, but a big black loose- 
made colt, about three years old, that they had tried to break to 
ride, but it had thrown all of them. They said if I could ride it I 
was welcome to it. So we caught it, got a saddle on it, and I got 
on it in the lane; no fear but that I could go all right; but of all 
the awkward movements I ever saw it capped them; it pulled its 
head one way and then another, like an old cow, I imagine would, 
till I was tired; from one side of the road to the other and stop and 
back, and whirl about, and so on, but I finally got off the place; it 
seemed to give up and go better, but so very awkward, occasion- 
ally wanting to turn back, but finally was going along quietly very 
well till we were probably a mile in the timber, when all of a sud- 
den, when I was off guard and resting, it squatted down and 
jumped backward like an old musket, throwing its head down; this 
jumped me forward off the saddle, with my head down, but clasping 
my legs around its neck, and my hands hold of its mane and ears, 
a rather awkward position, but I held there, and it held its head 
down still and shook me in good earnest a few times, and with head 
nearly to the ground it made another of those quick backward 
jumps and shakes, which turned me a complete somerset, leaving 
me on my back there all alone in the timber and not hurt a bit, but 
could not help laughing all over, and, turning my head, I saw the 
colt running for dear life for home. But it was done so nice,, and 
by an entirely new trick, that it seemed to -do me good to lie there 
and laugh and shout. Now, do you believe it was fair to take 
advantage of a fellow when he was off guard, with new tricks ? 




OLD CABIN HOME. 



YOUTH. 27 

Of course I had to go back and report not dead, and the fun, but 
Mr. Colty could not play that game on me again. 

Go slow boys in such business; be sure your right before going 
into it, for it is an unsafe business, and it may "get away with 
you " worse than a big ox did with me once, when I jumped on 
him and he ran off with me, and wouldn't "whoa" a bit till he 
had given me one of the roughest rides a boy ever got. 

OUR CABIN HOME. 

" There is no place like home." 

During the three years after father's death, by mother's hard 
work and good management, with what my big brother and I could 
do to help, we had lived better than some folks do, and decent, 
besides which, we accumulated stock, money and credit, sufficient to 
buy ten acres of land; some two acres cleared off and a decent 
hewed log house erected on it, near the head of what was called 
Rock Hollow, in the same vicinity that we lived in. 

We soon moved on to it and went into the clearing business in 
good earnest, for it was our home if it was in the hollow between 
two hills, one too steep part of the way for a wagon. Boys let me 
ask you here if we did not get more surface of land in ten acres 
there, than if it had all been level? If you don't understand how to 
make figures show it, I think you would hardly doubt it after clear- 
ing it all- off clean as we did, although we enjoyed it to some extent 
in many ways ; among which was rolling logs down hill, burning 
brush, running races in chopping and splitting rails, with the va- 
riety throw in occasionally of catching an opossum, coon or ground 
hog. We could eat all this time with a good grace, as you may 
suppose, and so thought if one hog is good why not another, hence 
tried the merits of a young ground hog, that we heard frequently 
was "so good." When cooked the meat looked as nice and ten- 
der as a chicken, and so we thought rather than be called more nice 
than wise some of us ate a portion of it, and it really was not bad 
eating, but the thoughts of it left a good deal more of it on the 
plate than if we had thought it was turkey. 

In less t^ian two years we had bought another ten acres, which 
must be cleared up, so you see where there is a will there is a way 
— in many things — if mother has got it. This last piece was a 
better lying piece of land. On one side of the hollow the soil was 
black and loamy; the other side was partly very red and sticky 
when wet, but it all produced quite well. The timber on it, which 
is not common, was dog- wood, that grew to average three to four 



28 YOUTH 

inches in diameter, ten to fifteen feet high, with a red berry; gum 
trees occasionally grow very large, like oaks, and are frequently hol- 
low, leaving only a shell, say three inches thick; they are used for 
bee hives and large troughs — very tough, gnarly wood, which it is 
nearly impossible to split. Beech never grow tall; their bodies 
vary in size, about like my readers; the beech nut is a three-cornered 
small nut, which is good to eat; the chestnut not so plentifully sup- 
plied, but it is a fine, useful tree, and has a kind of porcupine burr 
over the good nuts, you have all eaten and find in market. 

The large, nice, straight, tall poplar and yellow pine were plenty, 
and used mostly for building purposes, after being sawed into 
shape. The stately oak is used for frame timber, shingles and rails; 
blank: walnut and butternut for furniture. The black haw, mul- 
berry, papaw, hickory nuts, walnuts, peaches, apples, cherries and 
most other small fruits did well there. Our clothing was home- 
made. We raised flax, rotted the fiber, then broke it out on a flax 
break, then switched it, and then mother took the lint and spun, 
wove, and made it into summer clothes and sheets; then we clipped 
the wool from a few sheep; that she took through the same process, 
for all our winter wear, dresses, blankets, etc. Thus you may see 
widowed mother had to run the little wheel or big wheel or loom 
the year round for six children, and frequently for the neighbors, 
and yet kept us all better clad than many of our neighbors that had 
plenty to do with; if not rich, we were never ragged; clothes mended 
promptly when worn or torn, and yet she more frequently com- 
plained for the want of work than that she had too much to do. A 
full share of visitors and never behind hand with her housework, 
and kept in neat order. A child that would not be grateful to such 
a mother hardly deserves to ever have had one. 

SCHOOL DAYS AND PLAT. 

To go back a little to our cabin home and prior. Our school days 
seldom exceeded three months; that in the winter season; from 
there we went two miles part of the time. I was not an apt scholar 
by any means, as generally understood. I could comprehend 
any principle or rule as readily as any one, but could never fairly 
imitate, let alone use and repeat the same words in full or language 
as laid down in the books, as many can. Orthography, probably 
my greatest stumbling block, if Webster is the standard. I could 
not memorize every letter in a word. I could not see the common 
sense in or propriety of spelling a word one way and then using 
different letters to show how it should be pronounced, but hope 



YOUTH. 29 

the time is not far distant when there will be a change for the 
better. 

Our school teachers were good, bad and indifferent in teaching 
qualities, as now. Whip, whip, whip, was the fashion those days, 
but generally the better the teacher the less the whip was used. If 
it had to be done just so much, I did not probably get my share; I 
generally got along with teachers well. One of the teachers that 
favored me most, and then whipped others for trifling things that 
I was permitted to do, or at least not even reproved for doing, 
made me feel that it was unjust, partial and unmanly in him so that 
I had to interfere to save others, and tell the facts to his shame. I 
never could tell how little I thought of a teacher that would favor 
me to another's hurt; they should never be tolerated. 

The teacher if he is a good one is as much a benefactor as any 
calling in life; probably has more to contend with in controlling 
himself, in controlling others, than any other calling. It is hard to 
describe the good done; it is immeasurable; the faults are easier 
told than corrected. 

In those days it was common to bar the teacher out on public 
holidays to make him treat if he did not without; or if he got in 
first to avoid it, then smoke him out by covering the chimney; 
sometimes the teacher did the smoking out; it was generally all 
taken in fun, but occasionally there was trouble over it, and no 
good to come of it. But boys will do many foolish things and 
think they enjoy it; for instance, they would get a "posse" of 
them together with a lot of hounds and go hunting; get dogs after 
a fox or something else, and for half the day or night or more, fre- 
quently follow to get it; some of them even men in age do so from 
day to day, that were of no account to do a day's work. We sel- 
dom put in time in that way. When our dog or some other treed 
a coon or other animal, which was generally at night, we would 
split up a lot of pine slivers, such as they make tar of — long knots 
of the yellow pine, and light them, which make a nicer light than a 
lantern for that purpose, and go to their assistance and get the game 
if we could; if you can't shoot then and cut the tree, they fre- 
quently get away, so it is generally poor pay. 

But about the poorest paying thing I ever tried was card play- 
ing. I was bewitched with it from the first time I was shown how 
to play, and learned to love it in a few days while working from 
home, and for a few weeks made every turn and reasonable excuse 
to get with the boys that had the cards, in the hay-mow, cornfield 
or in the woods, even on Sunday, and could soon beat the best of 



30 YOUTH. 

them; but this was too sneaking a thing for me to feel well over; 
yet I was enamored with it, so that we got to playing on the road 
to Sunday-school by starting early and stopping in the timber, but 
we got caught at it by the old class leaders and superintendent, 
who told it on us, and that cut my " feathers " to the quick, not that 
we had played for anything but fun, but I was aware that where so 
enticing a thing might lead, so I never played anv more. 

We had socials, candy pullings and apple parings that we en- 
joyed very much. I never took any part in dancing. Log rolling 
and quilting bees were generally a mixed company of old 
and young folks that was large enough to be useful as well as 
ornamental — for we had some of as pretty girls in those days as you 
ever saw, if they did not possess the qualities and look so much like a 
new doll as some do nowadays. Those parties were not formal by any 
means, but very enjoyable, frequently at some one's expense — gen- 
erally those that put on airs, as on the fellow that was "going to 
put a 'condition' (for addition) on his house," and when laughed at 
claimed it was right. Still it was never forgotten; neither was the 
case of a lady at a quilting, where a number had been discussing 
finances, telling their financial condition, and so on, when this one 
in good earnest, said : "Well, John and me went to bed last night, 
and we sidered and sidered and sidered, and concluded we would 
sell three-thirds of our wheat to pay our debts, and keep the other 
third to keep the family on." This was seasoning enough for that 
occasion. 

A VISIT. 

After ten years absence from Columbiana county friends and rela- 
tives, mother and I went back on a visit. We took a steamboat at 
Pomeroy, our county seat, to go up the river. This was something 
new to us, and a great treat to have a change of scenery. This 
boat was a very nice one, but the beautiful variations along the 
banks of the grand, old Ohio river, was calculated to make a green 
country boy think whether it was Heaven or just the road there. 
When the river takes a high, it might not be a smooth road to that 
good place. They told me it took the highest high that it ever took 
the year I was born. I have never learned whether it was on my 
account or not, but it is a remarkable coincident that the very same 
year cholera raged all along the river, down to New Orleans, more 
fatal than ever before; a trinity of such evils is likely to be remem- 
bered. In passing on up the river at this time, 1848 or '49, we found 
that they had just stretched a wire bridge across the river at Wheel- 



YOUTH. 3L 

ing, the first structure of the kind; we stopped long enough so that 
I ran around and up on to it, it did not break, so I pronounced it 
a good job and hoped that none of those evils would get away with 
it, but they built a few big steamboats at Pittsburgh for the lower 
Mississippi that upon attempting to pass the bridge had to make 
their bow to it by taking off their hats, or chimneys, while ordinary 
boats could pass under without that etiquette. We passed on up to 
our destination all right. I think mother enjoyed it. I think it the 
first time I ever saw anyone crying for joy. During the three 
weeks they talked so as to seem to live their lives over again; a 
good thing to do occasionally if it only causes each one to look 
forward the remainder of the time, and not forget to take steps in 
that direction. I enjoyed it of course, who would not, with plenty 
of good-looking country cousins to take one sleigh riding, and 
here and there, even to a great ball at East Palestine, just to show 
me how they could dance? Besides this I found nine pretty female 
cousins in one family of that county, just to begin with. I could 
not stop to count all of them. Time went quickly as many good 
things do, and we soon found ourselves safely at home. 



I think it was in 1849 that my brothers and I went about twenty 
miles to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where the big Kanawa 
river empties into the Ohio river, to see a man hung for murder. 
I think his name was McMan, possibly just Man.. When we 
arrived, there was a vast concourse of people about the jail and 
gallows and on the craggy heights overlooking the place of execu- 
tion, in a pleasant valley a half mile up the river. When the time 
came to obey the behest of the law, he was brought out of the jail 
between officers and walked close behind a wagon with his coffin 
in so he could see it. This looked to me like unnecessary torture 
The coffin was taken from the wagon and placed beside the gallows, 
and he walked deliberately upon the scaffold. The clergyman 
prayed for him, after which he was asked if he had anything to say. 
As it made a strong impression upon my mind I think I can give 
you the substance correctly. He said, "This is the result of hab- 
its formed when a boy, notwithstanding my parents tried to raise 
me right. I first learned to use tobacco. Then when I went to 
the groceries someone treated me to cigars; then it came my turn 
to treat: this was kept up from time to time until the habits and 
associations were formed; next we must each treat to the beer or 
wine occasionally, until it became common and led me to the asso- 



32 YOUTH 

ciations of card players, then to gambling, then to strong drinks. 
This went on for some years and occasionally I got into a quarrel 
on account of drinks, and disputes about card playing as was the 
case this time. I had threatened him; on that fatal day I was drink- 
ing, got a new supply, took my gun, went up the river to where 
there was a skiff, got into it, rowed across, called the man out, and 
shot him in his own door. I do not know why I did it. I had no 
real enmity toward him, and may God have mercy on me. I hope 
none of you will ever come to this." (The murder occurred up the 
river farther, and the man that was killed lived at Pomeroy, Ohio, 
on the bank of the river.) They proceeded to hang him by first 
putting a black cap over his head and face. They were a long time 
getting the rope adjusted. The sheriff then left the scaffold and 
hit the triggers that let the trap door fall on which the man stood, 
with his feet tied together and his hands bound behind him, but the 
noose in the rope slipped and the man went down to the ground. 
This caused quite a commotion in the multitude, but he was soon 
raised upon the scaffold again, when we plainly heard him say, 
"If you are going to hang me, do it decent." The rope adjusted, 
the door fell and he swung clear until he was dead. He was then 
cared for by his friends. Oh! what must have been the feeling of 
friends or relatives? I never want to see another. 

LEARNING A TKADE. 

When near eighteen years old I concluded to learn a trade, and 
chose that of a cabinet maker, thinking, perhaps I would be better 
adapted to that and enjoy it more than other kinds of business. I 
feel that everyone should by that age decide, with the advice of some 
competent person, what his organization and make-up fit him for, 
for a business in life, and remember that a man that is successful 
in the arts, or mechanism, or agriculture is happier and honored 
more than the failures in the professions. If a man succeeds in the 
latter he must work for it like the former. 

I made a contract to work two years as an apprentice to the trade 
with Solomon Howard, of Gallipolis, Ohio, a man over sixty years 
old, that had worked there over forty years and established a repu- 
tation in everyway that any good man might be proud of, especially 
as one of the finest, best, most honest mechanics in any country. 

I lived in his excellent family and enjoyed the business, because 
I was successful in each branch; served my time and afterward as a 
"jour." I was especially pleased with the confidence he manifested 
in me in many ways, but especially when he set me at work to make 



YOUTH. 33 

each of liis daughters a very fine bureau and took down some of 
the finest cherry curls I ever saw to make the fronts of, that had 
been laid up, as something precious, for forty years in the shop. 
I made them and if no mishap befalls them, think they might be 
seen a century or two ahead. 

The most damage I did while there was to break a good hand saw 
one evening. The next morning when the "boss" came in I told 
him how unfortunate I had been in breaking my bones at various 
times, and last night I broke your saw and was sorry. He excused 
me, with oh, such a smile. 

I had the measles while there and thought I was well of them in 
two weeks, so on Sunday nry shopmate (he was as long as his name 
Lorenzo Dow Dobens) and I took a skiff ride away up the river for 
a pleasure trip, then you know we could ''float down the beautiful, 
old Ohio" so grandly, but I took cold and the measles returned and 
were worse than at first. Boys never go skiff riding on Sunday for 
a long time after you have had the measles, then ask mother if you 
may go, and obey her. 

Brother Albert came while I was there and learned the wagon 
and carriage making trade, and got along very well. 

I made a mahogany work box for each of my sisters Melissa Ann 
and Caroline, and a small chest to each of brothers Mark and Mad- 
ison to retain as keepsakes. The reader will find it very pleasant 
to give or receive substantial tokens of love or friendship, which is 
frequently neglected to be cultivated. 

GallipoHs is one of the oldest large towns on the Ohio river. I 
think Marietta had a few settlers before the little French colony 
settled at GalJipolis, four miles below the mouth of big Kanawa 
river. The little city became noted on account of the old bank by 
that name. There are some very fine buildings. I will describe 
one, and a circumstance as a warning to never build another the 
same way. A five story brick building with halls in the center of 
each story, and doors just alike at the front of each hall that fre- 
quently stood open, the flight of stairs starting from each one alike. 
A prominent doctor was called to the top story one dark night by 
the lady Good Templars lodge for some purpose. It attended to, 
he started down in a pleasant, jocular mood, came down one or 
two flights of stairs, probably thinking of something else besides 
his steps, walked out of one of those doors in the dark and fell on 
the stone pavement as I passed near the place. He never breathed, 
but seemed almost to be in a jelly. The fall must have taken his 



34 YOUTH. 

breath at the start as there was no noise of any kind; nothing but 
the thud on the pavement. Those standing close by thought a 
paddy had been tossed out. But after a little some one saw his 
gold watch glisten on the pavement, then quickly discovered who 
it was. Then there was excitement and sorrow such as we never 
saw there before. 

There was a colored population of nearly one-third of the city of 
free born and ex-slaves, and a large settlement in the county; gen- 
erally industrious, and a few became quite wealthy. They had their 
own Methodist church and they would occasionally make it decid- 
edly interesting for the boys, especially when they got in one of 
their "weaving ways," in singing, then a few of the sisters get to 
shouting at the top of their voices; they were splendid singers. 
Many of them followed boating, and when a large, tine steamer 
that employed a large number of them, would be coming into port, 
so gracefully that one would almost feel that it was a living angelic 
choir, then these colored men and women would get in a line on 
the bow of the boat and sing so grandly that it would add good 
cheer to all in hearing, and sounded better on the water. I wish I 
could repeat some of the songs, but they use more choruses than 
anything else generally, and with a long, drawn out, rolling sound 
that would vibrate on the water and echo back from the surround- 
ing heights. One chorus was: 

Oh, oh, oh, 

Here we go, 

Floating down de riber, 

On the Ohio. 

LEARNING POLITICS. 

I had never taken much interest in politics while living in the 
country, not having a father to ask questions or hear discussing the 
matter. In fact, the newspapers then, as now, did not set forth 
matters in such a way as to give a clear understanding of the mat- 
ter to new beginners, unless you take papers from all sides, or par- 
ties, that few can afford, but could afford in many cases if they 
would leave off the things that are worse than useless — stimulants 
in all forms, that make people coarse — while reading will cultivate. 
So in order to learn from a conscientious, able man, I asked my 
"boss," Solomon Howard, what politics were. The answer was, 
"The science of government." But how shall I learn what that is, 
I asked. The rejoinder was, "You get the three platforms of the 
the three different parties and read them carefully, and see which is 
the nearest true in your judgment." That seemed so common sense 



YOUTH. 35 

a way to get at it in brief, that I soon secured them,, as they had 
just been making the nominations of 1852. I read and re-read and 
studied on the different points, informed myself as best I could in 
all good conscience to get at the right. My father had been a whig, 
but my associations had been more with the democrats. The anti- 
slavery party was very unpopular there on the border of the slave 
States, but I had to decide in their favor to satisfy my conscience 
as to what was right, and have never been sorry of the decision 
though it placed me in antagonism to my friends, and hence had to 
defend my position, and posted myself for the combat that was 
coming, feeling that truth is mighty and will prevail. That he who 
has it on his side is thrice armed. I became zealous in the cause 
during the summer, and went home in the fall to the presidential 
election, a year before I could vote, and worked in a private way 
with kind words and such argument as I could. It counted enough 
so that among those that acknowledged it was a prominent politi- 
cian of those days, Hon. ¥m. Laidley, who called me to one side as 
soon as the polls were closed, and said he had pledged himself to 
carry that county for the democracy, but wished to say to me, that 
from that on he would be with me, and added very kind words and 
again pledged his honor to the cause I was advocating. How well 
it was kept I do not know, but it encouraged me to do my part as 
best I could. The platforms of the two old paities that year were 
nearly verbatum. 

Principles are fundamental traits that do not change with circum- 
stances, but they are so frequently tried to be twisted to suit party 
policy and circumstances that a man may have to change parties to 
keep in sight of principles if he has any. Again the party may 
not have an}', having left all for the loaves and fishes. Some in 
their dotage, others born croaking, so that a decade may change 
the phase of things, and circumstances bring up new issues to suit 
the day and generation in so much that we cannot recommend any 
party for the future, so leave behind prejudices as much as possible 
and read up with the times or you may get in the fog. Regardless 
of politics, imitate James A. Garfield if you can, in progress, but 
keep in one line of business. He lived under different circumstan- 
ces. 

At fourteen he was at work at a carpenter's bench. 

At sixteen he was a boatman on the Ohio canal. 

At eighteen he was studying at the Chester, Ohio, seminary. 

At twenty-one he was teaching in one of Ohio's common schools, 
pushing forward with his own studies at the same time. 



36 YOUTH. 

At twenty-three he entered Williams college. 

At twenty-six he graduated from Williams college with the high- 
est honors of his class. 

At twenty-seven he was tutor at Hiram college, Ohio, 

At twenty-eight he was principal of Hiram college. 

At twenty-nine he was a member of Ohio senate — the 3^oungest 
member of that body. 

At thirty-one he was colonel of the Forty-second Ohio regiment. 

At thirty-one he was placed in command of a brigade, routed the 
enemy under Humphrey Marshall, helped General Buell in his fight 
at Pittsburg Landing, played a prominent part in the siege of Cor- 
inth and in the important movement along the Memphis and Charls- 
ton railroad. 

At thirty two he was appointed chief of the staff of the army of 
the Cumberland, participated in the campaign in Middle Tennessee 
and in the notable battle of the Chickamauga, was promoted to the 
rank of Major-General. 

At thirty-three he was in Congress, the successor of Joshua K. 
Giddings. 

At forty-eight, having been continuously in Congress since he 
was thirty-three, he was elected to the United States Senate. 

At forty-nine he was nominated for the Presidency of the United 
States. 

At fifty he was elected President. 

YOUTHFUL BELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 

Having lived in as many different localities as we had, I learned 
something of the doctrines of the different denominations that are 
so numerous and common. I found that what was thought essen- 
tial to salvation did not so materially differ in spirit as in. letter, as 
set forth in the different creeds and disciplines, but each riding his 
own hobby, and hence difference in the church rules and regula- 
tions and contentions about minor matters that in itself was calcu- 
lated to procrastinate the time of deciding such questions by the 
youth that had a reasonable amount of causality and conscientious- 
ness, besides my surroundings at home did not favor "children 
joining church," which left the matter undecided while at home. 
During father's life-time we frequently had preaching at our house, 
but afterward was among other denominations. Do not think I had 
many bad habits, but had a temper that occasionally something 
less than a Hint, would make the tire fly. I used rough and cutting 
words, but do not think I ever swore an oath or took the name of 



YOUTH. 37 

God in vain. Farther than the above was not conscious of having 
violated the laws of morality or the land. 

I will try now to explain my feelings when I joined the church 
and afterward for three years while there in Ohio. In January, 
1851, Rev. Andrew Carroll (the author of "Notes and Discourses 
on the Gospel"), known as the "wild Irishman," was holding a pro- 
tracted meeting at Gallipolis, O., while I was at work there, at the 
Methodist church. He was its pastor, an able minister that appealed 
more to argument than feelings, was a very zealous, hard working 
man. Many joined the church; I was interested, but not excited as 
many seemed to be, which is the same only in degree. But on the 
20th of the month I concluded to join the church, and went to the 
altar for the prayers of the church but did not feel that I was guilty 
of any serious wrong against God or man. The prayers or advice 
did not seem to touch my case, and thus it went on for a month. I 
felt anxious to do whatever my duties to God and man were, but at a 
loss to know what they were. I used every opportunity to learn, prayed 
earnestly and knew it was my sincere desire to get on the high way 
to holiness that others claimed to be, done all that I felt I could to 
relieve the burden on my mind as to what shall be done. This tor- 
ture continued till on the 22d of February, when Rev. Giffen, pas- 
tor of the Methodist church at Middleport, twenty miles up the 
river, came and preached at our church and told the simple story of 
the Cross. He was a light complexioned, tall, slender, saintly 
looking man, and told us of Jesus' birth, life, suffering, death, bur- 
ial and resurrection, each part in detail, in a simple, sweet, coax- 
ing, loving tone, and I followed him in the very spirit of it. It 
seemed to be just what I wanted. Manna to my soul seemed as 
though I was born, lived, growed up, worked, suffered, died in the 
Spirit and arose with Christ, and I triumphantly came forth at this 
point, from my seat over half way back in the great congregation. 
I felt I was all swallowed up in love, love, love; joy, joy, joy un- 
speakable and full of glory. I was too full for utterance, yet all 
around seemed to say, "Glory to God on High," and appeared an- 
gelic to me. I made no demonstration, yet all who saw me seemed 
to know what it meant. I was dressed in the finest broadcloth yet 
oh, how humble and loving in mind and spirit, and could scarcely 
keep from hollowing at the top of my voice when I got to the door 
and seen the natural objects outside. They all seemed to say to me, 
"God made me," in louder tones than ever before; even when the 
cold winter winds were whistling through the trees, and have loved 
nature's beauties and their Author ever since. I went into the class 



38 YOUTH. 

room to tell the story of my redemption and sweet peace, and went 
on from week to month and years doing the best I could and grow- 
ing in grace and tried to in knowledge of the truth. 

I do not think I ever had any reason to doubt that it was as gen- 
uine a conversion as anyone else could have, though I have no 
doubts but the same result may be reached in many ways and by 
very different experiences but why, I like the Apostle of old should 
have doubts about my safety, fearing I might do some little thing 
that would be wrong and thus be a cast-a-way for all eternity, tor- 
tured me every little while beyond description. According to the 
teachings in those days I thought I might be tempted and do a 
wrong of some kind and suddenly be called,to account in eternity, or 
might neglect something that I should do to save others from that 
lake of fire, whose torments would affect my salvation. Then could 
I possibly be hopeful and know that others, better in many ways 
than I, had gone thither, and it frequently urged that if we break 
one of the least of these laws or commandments, is guilty of all. 
And that "he that offends one of these little ones, it were better 
that he had a mill stone about his neck in the midst of the sea." So 
that my thoughts run as J. G. Whittier represents the "Minister's 
Daughter." 



In the minister's morning sermon 
He had told of the primal fall, 

And how thenceforth the wrath of God 
Rested on each and all. 

And how, of His will and pleasure, 
All souls, save a chosen few, 

Were doomed to the quenchless burning, 
And held in the way thereto. 

Yet never by faith's unreason 

A saintlier soul was tried, 
And never the harsh old lesson 

A tenderer heart belied. 

And, after the painful service 
On that pleasant Sabbath day, 

He walked with his little daughter 
Thro' the apple-bloom of May. 

Sweet in the fresh green meadows 
Sparrow and blackbird sung, 

Above him their tinted petals 
The blossoming orchards hung. 

Around on the wonderful glory 
The minister looked and smiled; ' 

"How good is the God who gives us 
These gifts from His hand, my ehild! 



YOUTH. 

"Behold in the bloom of apples 
And the violets in the sward, 

A hint of the old, lost beauty 
Of the Garden of the l^ord!" 

Then up spake the little maiden, 
Treading on snow and pink; 

"O father, these pretty blossoms 
Are very wicked, I think. 

"Had there been no garden of Eden, 
There had never been a fall, 

And if never a tree had blossomed 
God would have loved us all." 

"Hush, child," the father answered, 

"By His decree man fell; 
His ways are in the clouds and darkness, 

But He doeth all things well." 

"And whether by His ordaining 

Cometh to us good or ill, 
Joy or pain, light or shadow, 

We must fear and love Him still." 

"Oh, I fear Him," said the daughter, 
"And I try to love Him too; 

But I wish He was good and gentle, 
Kind and loving as you." 

The minister groaned in spirit, 
As the tremulous lips of pain 

And wide, wet eyes uplifted 
Questioned his own in vain. 

Bowing his head, he pondered 

The words of the little one; 
Had he erred in his life-long teaching? 

Had he wrong to his Master done? 

To what grim and dreadful idol 
Had he lent the holiest name? 

Did his own heart, loving and human, 
The God of his worship shame? 

And lo! from the bloom and greenness, 
From the tender skies above, 

From the face of his little daughter, 
He read a lesson of love. 

No more as the cloudy terror 

Of Sinai's mount of law, 
But as Christ in the Syrian lilies 

The vision of God he saw. 

And as when, in the clefts of Horeb, 
Of old was his presence known, 

The dread ineffable Glory, 
Was Intiuite goodness alone. 

Thereafter his hearers noted 
In his prayers a tenderer strain, 

And never the gospel of hatred 
Burned on his lips again. 



40 YOUTH. 

And the scoffing tongue was prayerful, 

And the blinded eyes found sight, 
And hearts, as flint aforetime, 

Grew soft in his warmth and light. 

Such feelings as these continued more or less for a long time, 
alternately with the great joys of believing and realizing something 
of the joys of the good world to come. 

I was not baptized for about a year after joining, then by immer- 
sion at the hand of Rev. James Hopkins, of the Ohio Conference 
M. E. Church. He was one of the best of singers, but would use 
party and dancing tunes frequently to the hymns during service and 
at other times. Some of the older brethren complained of it to him 
occasionally as not the right thing to do, but his answer was, "I 
am not going to let the devil have all the good tunes, I am going 
to appropriate them to the Lord's service and if the 'old fellow' 
don't like it 'he' can lump it." True religion don't make men long- 
faced or miserable, but prompts to culture and purity. 

MOTHER GETS MARRIED AGAIN. 

Mother lived a widow seven years and had gained a comfortable 
little home, and the children, grown to be a useful size and strength, 
could get along without me, so I went to learn my trade. But 
there had been some attention paid to her by old gentlemen. 
Sometime in 1851 she wrote me she had just married Mr. Russel 
Yan Tassel. She seemed to think the lively old joker preferable 
to the rich old music teacher. This added his five children to the 
family; they all lived on our place a while then all moved to where 
our step-father had a saw-mill on Strong's run, near Wilksville, 
now in Yinton county, Ohio, where they lived till 1856. That 
spring Perry A. Yan Tassell was born, the only offspring of the 
old couple, mother then 47 years old (now 82 and father 89). His 
older children were Russell, Elizeann, Jane, John and Josephine. 
( think they all got along together better than usual. 

From time to time each one started out, 

With health and strength for his ideal, 
But had much to do and find out, 

So dare not be faithless or idle. 

But many found too much to contend with, 

To ever realize their ambition, 
Still faithful enough to show their worth, 

And are on the road to a better condition, 



YOUTH. 41 

MY LAST YEAR ABOUT HOME IN OHIO. 

My last year in Ohio was spent close about home, then at the 
saw-mill, on Strong's run, east of Wilksville. My step-father aided 
very materially in making home happy, being a cheerful, lively, 
good man that seemed to love hard work. He was a mill-wright 
by trade, but was handy at many things. He and I worked 
together in building derricks and shanties for a railroad that com- 
menced to be built close past his house from Jackson toward Mar- 
ietta but never completed, but a large amount of grading was done. 
We went over onto Virginia Yalley Railroad and took a contract 
at the same kind of work. The old Virginians were astonished at 
his ingenuity in building houses "laying on the ground" and then 
putting them up so quick. Then father's witty jokes and Yankee 
tricks would keep those people that done everything in the old pod 
auger fashion, standing around looking and neglecting their work so 
that we could use them to good advantage occasionally in a heavy lift, 
etc. In fact, he made it lively wherever he went, and disappoint- 
ment did not kill with him. In fact ray step-father and my father 
both always looked on the sunny side, no difference how much loss 
of property, betrayal of confidence, kindness not returned, loss of 
dear friends, personal afflictions, still the golden side would be 
set forth. 

'* There is many a rose in the road of life, 

If we would only stop and take it; 
And many a tone from the better land, 

If the querulous heart would make it. 
To the sunny soul that is full of hope, 

And those beautiful trusts ne'er faileth, 
The grass is green and the flowers are bright, 

Though the winter storm prevaileth. 

Better to weave in the web of life 

A bright and golden filling, 
And to do God's will with a ready heart, 

And hands that are ready and willing, 
Than to snap the delicate minute threads 

Of our curious lives asunder, 
And then blame heaven for tangled ends, 

And sit and grieve and wonder." 

BROTHERS. 

Brother Albert got through learning his trade all right as he had 
always done in other kinds of work and school, for the limited 
chances he had, and he had done a large amount of hard work, 



42 YOUTH 

well calculated for a good mechanic or farmer, great on economy. 
Commenced work as a journeyman at Kygerville, Gallia county, 
some fifteen miles from home, for a Mr. Tenney, a well-to-do 
farmer and mechanic that had some handsome daughters, and not- 
withstanding brother was younger than I, his heart warmed up 
toward one of the damsels, that was reciprocated by her and they 
actually took the start of me and were married before he had 
attained his majority. The bride's maiden name was Sarah Jane 
Tenney, a good sized, well built, good looking, common sense, 
practical woman, a trifle older than the groom. They commenced 
house keeping at that place. To begin the poetry of a married 
life, may it "pan out" well, and they have something to show for it. 

I had always been rather timid among the girls, hence not in 
young company as much as some of my age, in fact did not mature 
as fast as many. At twenty my face was as smooth as many girls, 
and fair complexion, but weighed about one hundred and sixty 
pounds. At that time love for all mankind was the uppermost 
thought in my heart, and as a matter of course some of the prettiest 
of the beauties among the Marys and Nancys, etc., had more than 
others. Yet I was not ripe (and it is doubtful if I ever do get so 
in many particulars, whether the reader is or not), to get married. 
Had no cage, if I had any disposition, but I spent many happy 
hours in good company, that I take a pride in looking back upon. 

Tender, loving hearts should never be trifled with by either sex, 
yet it is too often done, be it said to the shame of both male and 
female, yet more often by the stronger sex. Every one should be 
true to himself and others if he ever expects to be happy or 
successful in business and cultivate all the good there is in him, or 
around him. 

In fact culture, physicality, mentality and morality are the high- 
est objects any one can live for, the friction in doing so will brigh- 
ten up the iron, silver or gold in others so that all may see sweet 
fields arrayed in living green and pastures of delight. 

LAST SCHOOLING. 

Feeling the need of mental culture of commom-school kind, I 
went to the district school at home when twenty years old, and 
knowing the need of it, made good use of my time. I was not much 
ahead of my two little brothers, Mark and Madison, but it was a 
great pleasure to go with them and my sisters, Melissi Ann and Caro- 
line, then young women, and to be at home with the motherly pro- 
vider for the essential wants of her big babies. 



YOUTH. 43 

When spring came I concluded to prosecute my studies further 
and for that purpose I went to Albany, Athens county, Ohio, to the 
Lewis Seminary, a very good institution, open to all races and where 
they had it arranged so that the students could work to pay their 
way in part if they wished, and advised all to work part of the time 
at something for health and general development, which I think of 
great benefit to all. I worked some at my trade and part of the 
time at house building and such things. One incident will show 
how anybody may fall after working his way up in the world. I 
was assisting in finishing up a very tall, steep roofed house, while 
weather boarding up one end I built scaffolding about my length 
apart from the ground up to the gable end along as I worked my 
way up in weather boarding. While on the last (not pinnacle of 
fame) built scaffold finishing it up, the scaffold gave way with me so 
quick I could not catch anything, and when I struck the next scaf- 
fold it broke into; then with my weight and two scaffolds went 
through all the rest to the ground, I on top of most of them but not 
all, and things were badly mixed, but I was not seriously hurt, each 
scaffold breaking the force of the fall for which I was especially 
thankful. 

We may learn to alwa}^s put plenty of nails in the scaffold, and 
be sure the boards are sound, as we should in the platform of prin- 
ciples, if starting out for riches, honor, fame, or to just do your 
whole duty, the highest goal to be reached. 

Keep in memory that it is easier to get down in the world than 
it is to get up, if the fall does hurt worse than the rise. The rise is 
where the pleasure comes in, improvement and culture at all points 
brings it. This is my hobby, I hope it will be the readers. If it 
is he will at once leave off all bad habits. 

While attending that school I think I was benefited more than 
ever before in treble the length of time, because I was like a hungry 
boy, felt the need of it, and took a pleasure in it, especially in some 
of the sciences and philosophy, grammar seemed too simple to 
study but was rich to me in recitations. Orthography I never could 
see pleasure or sense in, pronouncing a word one way and spelling 
it another way, as Webster does so much, think there is a reform 
needed in that matter so that sound of the letters should be in the 
word but that is not my fort if I have any. So you can attend to 
that matter, if you please. There was a few colored young men 
there that succeeded well in their studies, and could "hoe their row" 
with the best of those in our debating club. There was other "col- 



44 YOUTH. 

ored gentlemen" there that was as little force as some of the u white 
trash. " 

Think what I saw there proves that the race of colored people of 
African descent can be cultivated up to a standard far above the 
average of earth at this time in a few years or generations. But 
not as quick as the white man. Where they are mixed blood, there 
is many of them that seem to have vigor in muscle and nerve 
forces, that with little culture will soon make themselves felt as 
able, eloquent, useful men, with as big hearts as any and souls that 
possess a spark of eternal life as big as any, frequently with more 
music in it. 

I had not the means necessary to continue to go to school then, 
but have often regretted that I did not work for the necessary funds 
and then continue; I did think seriously of doing so, and went at 
work at my trade at Wilksville. While there Mr. Ansel Barker, a 
good worthy man that had been raised in that vicinity, but who had 
been many years living in Iowa; came there on a visit, and gave so 
good an account of the country and its prospects that I was almost, 
yea finally altogether pursuaded to emigrate thither. In those days 
railroads were scarce, and it was thought by many that Iowa was 
beyond the bounds of civilization, and a great journey to undertake. 
But I thought I would take Greelev's advice, "Foung man go west 
and grow up with the country." 

Out on the vast domain, where you may find, 
The prairie dog, chicken, wolf and bear, 
The minl^, fox, coon, deer and beautiful fawn, 
The wild horse, buffalo, bison, lion and tiger. 

Some of my friends thought it was not the right thing for me to 
do and seemed to feel that I should go into a different avocation, 
that I was not prepared for, so I went on with the preparation nec- 
essary to go west. Feeling that I could not comfortably locate my- 
self there short of many years hard work, and like thousands of 
young men, had ambition, not only to do good, but to be comforta- 
bly prepared to have an ideal home that I could feel was mine and 
some one to share in its comforts. Such a one as wrote the follow- 
ing lines, giving a God-like picture of life; one with such moral 
courage and good sense, should be practical in every feature of life 
and as pure as the snow from heaven. 



YOUTH. 45 



A KISS. 

You kissed me ! ray head 

Dropped low on your breast. 
With a feeling of shelter 

And infinite rest, 
While the holy emotions 

My tongue dared not speak 
Flashed up in a flame 

From my heart to my cheek. 
Your arms held me fast — 

Oh, your arms were so bold ! 
Heart beat against heart 

In their passionate fold. 
Your glances seemed drawing 

My soul through my eyes, 
As the sun draws the mist 

From the sea to the skies, 
Your lips clung to mine 

Till I prayed in bliss 
They might never unclasp 

From the rapturous kiss. 

You kissed me ! my heart 

And my breath and my will, 
In delirious joy, 

For a moment stood still. 
Life had for me then 

No temptations, no charms, 
No visions of happiness 

Outside of your arms. 
And were I this instant 

An angel possessed 
Of the peace and joy 

That art given the blest, 
I would fling my white robes 
- Unrepiningly down; 
I would tear from my forehead 

Its beautiful crown, 
To nestle once more 

In that haven of rest, 
Your lips upon mine, 

My head on your breast. 

You kissed me ! my soul 

In a bliss so divine, 
Reeled and swooned like a drunken man 

Foolish with wine, 
And I thought 'twere delicious 

To die there, if death 
Would but come while my lips 

Were yet moist with your breath; 



46 YOUTH. 

If my heart might grow cold 

While your arms clasped me round 
In their passionate fold. 

And these were the questions 
I ask day and night: 

Must lips taste no more 
Such exquisite delight? 

Would you care if your breast 
Were my shelter as then, 

And if you were here, 
Would you kiss me again? 

The London Tid-Bits offered a prize for the best definition of a kiss. 
Seven thousand replies were received. The prize was awarded to the 
author of the following definition: 

"An insipid and tastless morsel, which becomes delicious and delectable 
in proportion as it is flavored with love." 

Among other definitions were the following: 

What the chimney sweeper imprinted on the rosy lips of the scullery maid 
when she told him she rather favored his soot. 

A telegram to the heart in which the operator uses the "sounding" system. 

Something rather dangerous, 

Something rather nice, 
Somethiug rather wicked, 

Though it can't be called a vice, 
Some think it naughty, 

Others think it w T rong, 
All agree it's jolly, 

Though it doesn't last long. 

What the child receives free, what the young man steals, and what th§ old 
man buys. 

Contraction of the mouth due to enlargement of the heart. 

Woman's passport to her husband's purse, and a man's passport to a 
woman's heart. 

A lip salve often tried as a specific in affections of the heart. 

The pooresi mother's richest gift. 

A demonstration of love which will dry the baby's tears, thrill the maid- 
en's heart, ana soothe the ruffled feelings of a tired wife. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Twenty-one to Twenty-eight. 

WESTWARD BOUND. 

Bidding adieu to friends and loved ones and native State, for how 
long we did not know, Mr. Alonzo Wells, Mr. Jonathan Buzzard 
and I started for Iowa in May, 1854, by steamboat down the Ohio 
river from where the county seat of Meigs county, Ohio, is located 
on the river. Pomeroy or Coalport, Middleport and Niestown, is 
strung out on the bank of the river from five to six miles long alto- 
gether, and back to the hills; part of the way only room for one row 
of houses and one street then widening out to a fourth of a mile in 
places. There were rolling mills where they make bars of iron of 
all sizes from the "pig" iron; large foundries, factories of various 
kinds, and extensive salt works, but the principal business there is 
coal mining. They dug through the first tier of hills in places and 
go on back into a second tier of hills, and work thousands of men 
along there within a few miles. The coal is shipped from there to 
all cities along down the river to New Orleans on flats that they let 
float with a few men to guide it in going down, just as thousands of 
rafts of lumber are floated. The coal flats are taken back by hitch- 
ing them to steamboats; at one time they were pushed up by spike 
poles and oars which was very hard work on the men, and they 
would have to go ashore and tie up when they wanted to stop and 
rest. So it is with *us all, after we work, work, work, if we want to 
rest we must tie up to principle or we will float back down finan- 
cially, physically, mentally and morally; clear down to a piace said 
to be worse than New Orleans in cholery times. 

We enjoyed the pleasant breezes that beautiful May weather, 
"sailing down the river on the Ohio." The scenery at that time of 
year, when everything is showing signs of life, is very grand. The 
further south we get the heavier the foliage becomes; the trees as it 
were, bowing to the great river, and as Whittier says: 

The forest tops are lowly east, 

O'er breezy hill and glen 
As if a prayerful spirit passed 

On nature as on men. 



48 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

The craggy rocks, cliffs and glens following each other in such 
quick succession adds dignity and grandeur to the scenery. Then 
when you come to notice the roads and highways, the houses and 
people in some localities, you are reminded of the "Arkansaw T 
Traveler" and his story of travel. Then comes the nice home-like 
farms, villages and towns along the valleys till we reach the Queen 
City, as it was then called, Cincinnati; I had then never seen so 
large a city. 

After we investigated its merits, weighed it well, and prophesied 
that it v would grow to be a large city, we bowed our adieu and 
glided down the river to the great falls at Louisville, Kentucky, 
where we stopped a few hours to see the sights, among them the 
giant of those days, Mr. Porter, who I think was seven feet six 
inches tall and was born in Gallia county, Ohio. In leaving the 
city on boat, the wind very gracefully took my white "plug" hat 
and immersed it so thoroughly that I never wore it any more; take 
care of your hats. Nevertheless, we arrived in course of time all 
safe — heads all on, at Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio river, on the 
mother of waters, the Mississippi river. Cairo was a small village 
then, noted only for its locality at the junction of two great rivers. 
It is better known since by thousands of soldiers for other reasons. 
Thus far we had been on the soil of Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, 
Illinois and struck Missouri soon after on the opposite shore, as we 
now start up stream. Noticing that it was not clear like the Ohio, 
I learned the most of it came from the muddy waters of the Mis- 
souri river. The scenery was not so attractive or romantic as it 
had been, and was again as we ascended the river, when we left 
4 'Egypt" behind and could see the vast prairie from the hurricane 
deck, a vast sea of pasture land as it appeared to us, who had been 
used to seeing more or less timber on every small farm. We thought 
then, "oh, where is the lumber to come from to fence all this land?" 
If it is to be found, why, in the name of common sense, was the 
thought or query that men worked so hard grubbing, chopping and 
lifting themselves almost blind in rolling logs and digging out 
stumps, all to clear up a little spot of land. Then to have their 
shins all bruised up with the roots flying back and hitting them in 
plowing, and it is fully as trying on their temper, even moral char- 
acter, as it was on the poor dumb brute, horse or ox, when all on a 
strain that had just give way, giving additional velocity, to be sud- 
denly brought to a standstill against an immovable root or stone 
unseen, jerking the breath or groans from the poor animal, and 
probably leaving the plow handles almost driven into the driver's 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 49 

stomach. Then he must jerk, pull sidewise, lift till he gets the plow 
loose, then to find the point broken off, or the beam broken, or the 
harness has given way, his patience cracked and temper no better. 
This I know to be the case from experience, and thousands of men 
can vouch for it, yet they continued that process from Plymouth 
Rock all over the great eastern, southern and middle States on 
through Indiana's heavy timber just to the border of these vast 
prairies all ready cleared, rich as a garden, ready to plow, sow, 
reap and mow and produce vastly more. 

The query is, ''why did they do all this before moving on to the 
land already prepared by nature for their use?" Could anyone help 
thinking why, oh why is it so? Do men love work? It is not so 
generally reported. Could they not have made a flank movement 
on the Indians and given them the timber to hunt in, and let them 
fight the British, and the white man have the benefit of this mighty 
Mississippi river and valley already prepared for their use, then 
grow like an apple from center to the circumference in this vast 
country of ours. But in that event our pilgrim fathers would have 
had a pleasant time farming for a few generations, and then the 
children would have had the clearing to do. But, again, we 
prefer doing the hard work ourselves and give the offspring the 
favors generally, and do it. Again, is it not best though to have 
the best first so you will have the best all the time of what is left? 
Then to reverse it, you might not ever get to anything very good. 
Thus we muse on seeing the fine prairies, bnt conclude the joke is 
on the fathers that are dead and gone, hence not here to use it as 
we are; they having relieved these later generations of the hard 
work. We having the blessings thus provided by natural laws, is 
certainly something to be thankful for to the great Author of all 
good. 

The cedar and the mountain pine. 

The willow on the fountain's brim 
The tulip ana eglantine 

In reverence bow to Him. 

ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 

While thus musing we naturally go up stream into higher, better 
realms and soon find ourselves at the city. In this case it was at 
St. Louis, a comparatively old city for a new country, having been 
a trading post from a very early day when the Indians were thick 
over this fine heritage. After taking a look at the merits of the 
city we continued our journey, noting Quincy to be a nice little city 



50 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

set on a hill. Then in a few hours we get sight of the promised 
land, Iowa, at Keokuk, the southeast corner of the State at the foot 
of the falls of the Mississippi river. The place was only a little 
yillage on a rough, stony point of land, not very inviting in appear- 
ance, but when we go around up on top of the cliff above the 
place, the scenery was beautiful. We could see a great distance 
over Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois on the east side at the head of the 
falls a few miles distant could be seenNauvoo, the city of the saintly 
Mormons. There they lived and prospered for a few years, claim 
ing divine direction in locating there. They commenced the erec- 
tion of a very fine temple of cut stone and marble and got it partly 
built before Joseph Smith, their prophet, priest and king was killed 
by an infuritated mob because the brethren, as charged, had been 
guilty of taking too much privilege with other people's property. 
When we come to draw near to the city, it is a beautiful location, 
high, and yet a nice grade off in either direction. But the Mormons 
had emigrated westward and were scattered along the route to Salt 
Lake, their present abode. There were a good many in the vicinity 
of Council Bluffs, where the colony tarried one winter. 

It came to pass at Keokuk that my traveling companions left me 
to go direct to Osceola and Indianola, where Mr. Buzzard had some 
lands that he "must need go and see." Mr. Alonzo Wells, an old 
bachelor that had been to California, who wanted to buy land and 
find the queen which he did, and still lives among us. 

Left alone — a stranger in a strange land — I took a hack to 
go up to Montrose, opposite Nauvoo, around the great falls 
that large boats did not pass over. There I had to wait for a boat 
to take me up to Muscatine. While waiting at Montrose I was very 
lonely all day and night, not having the least idea of a friend near, 
but a few days after that I learned that I had a good old aunt living 
there, and married cousins well off. You see how baa it is when a 
feiiow does not know quite enough, but so it is, and was. But then 
there is generally no great loss but there is a small gain in caution, 
or learning the way of things, or something else. If I had known 
it I would have been there and would not probably have had this 
fish story to tell you, but it is all true, fish story or not. I was 
sauntering along up the beach to while away the time, looking at 
what there was to be seen, and discovered something in the edge of 
the shallow water making a flopping noise. I ran down to see what 
it was and discovered it to be the largest cat fish that I ever had 
seen in a bed formed in the sand in the shallow water that it found 
difficult to get out of. I got a short pole very quick and run in past 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY EIGHT. 51 

it and with hard work and persistent effort I got it out on the sand. 
It was as big as a boy from eight to ten years old, and would not 
fall much short of one hundred pounds in weight as those said who 
saw it, for some boys happened to see me doing something out of 
common form down near the wharf. They came and saw it, then 
run and reported it which brought a crowd, all agreeing that it was 
the biggest ever caught there. I gave it to the boys and they got 
a rope and put it through its gills with a stick and tied it good and 
put it back in the water to see it flop and flounce about and take it 
down to the wharf boat. They talked of eating it; I thought it 
looked too coarse, but did not get to try it. I think probably it 
went out there on a boat wave and r^ould not get back .and laid 
there in the sun without making much effort till I arrived, then it 
made effort enough to have got back I think if it had been in the 
right direction. Do you ever make efforts in the wrong direction? 
Yet with all this notoriety as a fisherman, Aunt Edith Davis, a sis- 
ter of father, did not happen to hear my name or find out who I was. 
Her husband, Isaac Davis, had joined the Mormons under Joseph 
Smith in Ohio, aud came west with them, located at Nauvoo till 
the break-up there. Then he went as far as Council Bluffs with 
them and died there. One of their sons, Elisha, is a well known 
Mormon preacher and has brought over colonies from Europe, and 
part of the family returned to Montrose, where one of her daugh- 
ters had married. We had lost run of the family for a few years. 

INDIANS. 

I went on up to Cedar county where I expected to find Uncle 
Roland Richards, but he had moved to Marshall county. I stopped 
with cousin Alfred at Iowa City and went to work there at my trade 
to replenish my finances. That city was then the capital of the 
State and a snug village. Quite a large stone building had been 
erected as the State house; no doubt with the hope of retaining the 
capitol, but was soon moved to Des Moines, or Fort Des Moines as 
it was then called. I visited uncle in Marshall county then a short 
time and enjoyed it very much. On the hill near Le Grand, Indian 
town, two miles distant on the Tama county line was quite a curi- 
osity to me. Hundreds of Indians live there part of the time mak- 
ing it their home, but go off hunting frequently, many of them 
goinggreat distances. Originally they had shanties and tenting places 
that looked like they could not stand the winters, but they are tough 
and have blankets and put on the different kinds of hides. They 



52 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

are very dirty looking generally, but some few of them keep them- 
selves quite decent; a few of them seem to be intelligent on many 
subjects; they are peaceable and generally to be trusted, but then 
some of them are as treacherous as some white men. They gener- 
ally know their rights under the law. They naturally feel that this 
is their country until they sell it for some consideration, then gen- 
erally leave it without any trouble. Those located in squads in 
various places, in ceded territory, are generally what is left of 
some tribe that has been so nearly annihilated that they cannot de- 
fend themselves against other tribes, but hunt, beg and occasionally 
raise a little corn, and thus get a sort of living. So "the poor In- 
dian" is, generally to be pitied, and no doubt there are some of them 
that need killing nearly as much, but not quite, as the white man — 
that has had advantages— that take advantage of them, if so severe 
a punishment would better their condition or humanity generally, 
but I think the facts do not warrant such a course. If both, the 
Indians and the whites, will act half as well as they know, there will 
be no trouble. 

LAND HUNTERS. 

The excitement at that time in Iowa was to see who could buy the 
most of the choice land. I was minus the " where- with-all" to get 
any, but interested while at uncle's in seeing many strangers out on 
the prairie, running from corner to corner, finding the numbers on 
the stakes and comparing them with plats and maps, then calling 
to someone in the vicinity to know if anyone had been seen in that 
locality within a few hours that might have got the start of them to 
the office of entry, or land office at Des Moines. So it wai from 
day to day until the land was nearly all entered. On one of those 
occasions I went a sixty mile ride one day on horseback, and thus 
landed in old Fort Des Moines for the first time, a little southwest 
of the center of the State where I stayed a short time and helped to 
build the "Des Moines house, " as large a frame building as you 
often find. The place, only a village at that time 1854, was having 
quite a "boom," hoping to get the capital of the State there. It is 
in the valley of the "Goon" and Des Moines rivers that become one 
in the city and has since become the capital, and spread itself out 
over the surrounding heights; the new capitol building is as fine a 
structure as any state affords. 

On the Fourth, of July I met An sell Barker in the city, the man 
that had put me in the notion of coming to this part of the west. In 
a few days after, I visited him at his request at Greenbush, twelve 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT 53 

miles south in Warren county. He was doing a fair business in 
general merchandising, a good, reliable man. He brought me to 
Indianola, where I had started for, and found things about as I had 
understood his description when in Ohio. 

A vast sea of land, with few to till it; 

More coming daily, gave prospect of tilling it. 

INDIANOLA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS — ARRIVING 

On arriving here in July, 1854, I found one of the prettiest loca- 
tions for a snug town or city that could well be imagined — not ex- 
actly u a city set on a hill," but the highest elevation on a plain that 
gradually slopes off each way, one and a half miles to South river, 
conveniently drained in three directions. The town had been laid 
out in lots some five years before, but the country was too new to 
require much business, hence there were but few people in the place. 
But the few that were here were cf the hopeful kind that show en 
terprise and had put up a good school building which showed a dis- 
position to cultivate the mind. This two-story building on Main 
street, used also as a church, attracted many more good people 
hither, and was just then making a fresh start and built up very fast 
for the next two years. I was trying to do my part as a carpenter; 
contracting and building some very good buildings. Two saw-mills 
were erected conveniently near, one on South river and the other in 
town that furnished the native lumber and the walnut lumber was 
plenty and of extra quality, but to get dry pine lumber we had to 
send teams to the Mississippi river one hundred and fifty miles dis- 
tant. Notwithstanding the great expense, we kept many teams 
constantly on the road to get lumber to complete the many dwell- 
ings and store rooms, besides there was a large four-story grist mill 
built by a company of our own citizens that soon supplied a large 
scope of country with bread stuff. But the greatest undertaking 
was to raise four thousand dollars here among us — few as there was 
of us — to build the Methodist Episcopal church of brick, 40x60 feet, 
with a good steeple that could be seen from nearly every point of 
prominence in the county in clear weather before the timber and 
groves grew up, but it was accomplished promptly. This public 
spirit seemed to be catching, and attracted that class of people from 
great distances which aided in building up the town and county 
materially for many years, and the religious disposition to cultivate 
the mind and build up the place and society, resulted in starting a 
seminary here, that grew gradually from small proportions at first, 



54 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

in a few years to be a stronghold in that direction. Then began the 
struggle for a higher grade of life for the institution. It has had a 
full share of difficulties to contend with in building the different 
buildings. Then in securing the endowment necessary to make it 
a permanent institution which is now being renewed with vigor, but 
has succeeded in securing so fine a location and buildings with 
pleasant surroundings and quite a large endowment and patronage, 
that it leaves it at this time (1892) in a thriving, healthy condition. 
With Kev. Fletcher Brown, a successful financial agent, the late 
president Jaaving resigned, the trustees are seeking a strong man to 
fill the place. With a progressive, broad gauge man, comprehend- 
ing psychology or the soul of education and things all around him, 
with practical common sense powers of making metaphysical 
thought, plain and simple to students, the college will make strides 
for higher life and honors I think than any institution of the society 
in the State. With the coming railroads and electric car connection 
with Des Moines, whose corporation is only twelve miles away, 
there is a good prospect. If our people will take hold of the mat- 
ter of raising Simpson College to Simpson University with as many 
thousands of students as hundreds now, in a few years, if well man- 
aged, it would satisfy a long felt want among Des Moines business 
men that would come here with their families for a pleasant, health- 
ful home, with many advantages over the city. Then we would 
more enjoy the hilarious college yell that always pleases me when 
hundreds repeat over and over again the latin thus: 



Hy! hare! tra! boom . 
Que! bizzum! yah! zoom ! 
Hella!baloo! balonia ! 
Rah! zoo! Simpsonia ! ! ! 



The old court-house that did stand on the south side of the public 
square was used also for an additional school room, at one time a 
regular preaching place, occasionally to camp in, is superseded by 
a one hundred and ten thousand dollar court-house of the latest and 
best style, as is our new ten thousand dollar jail, and two district 
school-houses, each at the same cost, which shows that the county 
has improved rapidly in all its branches that has enabled us to do 
all this in so short a space of time, and partly build two railroads 
and more coming this way. Also extra good county newspapers 
and a college paper, five good churches and other things in propor- 
tion. These things, in brief, will show the reader what energy and 
perseverance will do, and should encourage all to activity and hope. 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 55 

The winter of 1854-5 was probably the most mild, dry, open, 
pleasant winter ever known in this latitude; but typhoid fever pre- 
vailed as an epidemic, and was fatal to many good citizens, proba- 
bly from want of knowledge how to treat it. The next two winters 
were the most severe in our experience here; the snow was deeper 
than ever known, frequently hiding the fences in the drifts. The 
severe winds and extreme cold — as low as 28° below zero — killed 
most of the small fruit trees that had been put out, discouraging 
many people from any hope of ever being able to raise any kind of 
fruit in this State, so left the State. Many of them have returned 
since and discovered their mistake, as the hopeful, brave, energetic 
old settlers had tried and tried again — as the old school books 
taught— till they found fruits adapted to our climate that have 
proved to be a success. Notwithstanding all the difficulties to contend 
with in a new country, it is not surpassed in the essential qualities of 
success by any State. 

At the centennial exposition the State stood No. 1 in soil, corn, 
apples and many other things. 

Think of the change forty years have wrought, then the Indian 
was here and all a blank. Now we have fine farms, horses, cattle, 
hogs, agricultural implements, bridges, electric light, mills, factories, 
railroads, dwellings, store houses, hotels, school-houses, churches, 
colleges, reading rooms, newspapers, with progressive literature, 
containing knowledge that tends to wisdom for a healthy, progress- 
ive class of people that have grown up here with the beautiful groves 
all around us. 



All hail the day 

As onward we go, 
That shows us a better way 

To each hoe his own row. 

Improvements may do it, 

If we all do our part 
In thinking and working for it, 

For all good things must have a start. 

Then you may reap the profits, 

In money, honor or good conscience, 
And use it to other's profit 

Thus further result to your good in the conflict. 

PIONEER PLEASURES. 

The writer never took a very active part in the wild game chase, 
but have been interested in the circle hunt where a whole neighbor- 
hood or county turned out and formed in a circle and then closed 



56 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

into the center with such noise and parade as to drive all the wild 
animals before us into some open space where all the circle could 
be seen and see the animals running to and fro seeking an cutlet. 
We had such a one in Ohio, and there was one in the northwest 
part of this county some years ago. Some kinds of animals will 
become so desperate after running the circle a few times that they 
will run through the lines or jump over men's heads. The dogs are 
all turned loose on them and it becomes decidedly interesting; 
many animals will run through the lines or be killed in the attempt, 
but the circumstances in this case are easier imagined than described. 
But I will give you some special cases as related to me by personal 
friends a little further on in this article, at the time but since 
compiled into the history of Warren county from which I will 
quote in part, for we have such a history, if it did cost us all it 
is worth; it is important that the experience of the early pioneers 
be preserved, as they go to confirm the theory that, after all, hap- 
piness is pretty evenly balanced in this world. They had their pri- 
vations and hardships, but they had also their own peculiar joys, as 
we are creatures of circumstances to some extent and adapt ourselves 
to the surroundings. If we were poor, we were free from the bur- 
den of pride and vanity, free also from the anxiety and care that 
always attends the possession of wealth. Other people's eyes cost. 
them nothing. If there was but few neighbors, they were on the 
best of terms; envy, jealousy, strife did not interfere with their 
pleasures. A common interest bound all together with strong ties. 
A little world of our own, yet from all parts of the world. New 
comers were made welcome and gave part of the best room if there 
was but one. Then assist in getting them located and provide a 
habitation. If misfortune befell one, others were ready to help 
him, as when a house would burn or blow down. This state of 
feeling is common on the frontier, where laws have not been estab- 
lished as all must join in as one family for self protection against 
bad men that occasionally get away from law, to such a one when 
found out, the community is a law unto itself and men generally 
know enough to steer clear of such community. But their sports 
are peculiar. If a neighbor misses anything, he takes it for granted 
there is fun ahead in some way if it is at his expense; especially if 
he misses his boots, a quarter of beef, venison, or something and 
he will be expected to return the compliment, probably with inter- 
est, but will come round all right after the "spree" is over. 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 57 

BEAR HUNTING. 

Mr. J. S. McKeinmy, with whom I first worked on arriving 
here, relates as one of his most dangerous experiences, the follow- 
ing: 

"I discovered one day that one of my hogs had come up to 
Joshua Wallace's with one shoulder literally eaten off; yet it had 
traveled quite a distance, as tracked by the blood. In a few days 
one of the neighbors saw a huge black bear. So Thomas Cazon 
and myself went around to get the neighbors to give chase. 

U E. W. Williamson, Mr. Houser and several others came, and 
the next day we began the hunt. We did not find Mr. Bruin until 
we had pretty effectually scoured Brush Eidge. Finally, however, 
success crowned our efforts, and bruin suddenly jumped out of a 
fallen tree top, and the fun began. The bear ran around the head 
of a small, ravine, about half a mile away, when R. W. Williamson 
came up facing him and forced him to climb a tree. I was about 
eighty yards behind, riding a spirited horse, and I thought that in 
order to get a good shot before anybody else I would jump off my 
horse and fire away at him; but when I went to jump off, my foot 
stuck fast in the stirup, and as some of the party began to fire by 
this time, my horse became frightened and began to jump side- 
ways, jerking me eight or ten feet at a time. This was a very pre- 
carious situation; but I took my disengaged foot and pushed the 
stirup off the other one, got up as quickly as possible and ran to 
the edge of the brush where I could see the bear. Just at this 
time bruin concluded to come down, and although as many as fif- 
teen shots had been fired at him he reached the ground unharmed 
except by a single buckshot in his left foot, fired from Mr. William- 
son's gun, and, to my horror, he started straight toward me. As he 
was not more than thirty yards distant, I thought this a little too 
near for comfort, especially as I had' hardly recovered from the 
adventure with my horse. But I kept my trusty old rifle ready, 
and when the bear had come about half way, and had turned a 
little to one side, I drove a shot into his left side which felled him 
to the ground. Then Mr. Williamson's dog tackled him and re- 
ceived a rather warm embrace in return, but a ball by Ed William- 
son loosed his hold and he again arose to his feet and started away, 
when another shot from a large eight-inch revolver which I carried 
brought him to the ground to rise no more. 

"The bear was very large and very fat. An eye witness says that 
he never saw in all his life eighteen or twenty men so terribly ex- 



58 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

cited as this company was. This was the last bear seen in Warren 
county. " 

Mr. R W. Williamson also recounts some of his hunting adven- 
tures. He says, "I was an early settler in Warren county and like 
my father, was very fond of a gun. My first hunt alone was one 
which now would be considered quite a successful one for an old 
hunter, inasmuch as I captured three raccoons in one night, and 
my second hunt was one in which I killed eight deer in four days. 
Only a few days after this we had an adventure with a noted prairie 
wolf, long known in the neighborhood, and which was not much 
afraid of the dogs, but I had an immense greyhound which could 
capture any coyote. I got word one morning that the wolf was 
near our place, and my brother and myself went in pursuit of him. 
It was but a little while until we found him and the hound soon 
overtook him and ran violently against him, knocking him down 
and keeping him so until the other dogs came up and got hold of 
him. He played possum and we all thought he was dead, so I 
thought I would just tie him on behind my saddle on my mule and 
carry him home. The mule was a very wild one, and before I had 
an opportunity to complete the work my brother turned around and 
said, "look there, what jumps that greyhound is making," and as I 
looked I saw him going about twenty feet at a jump; I thought I 
would put the wolf down and go and see what the tracks in the snow 
some twenty yards distant were, and as I went toward my brother 
he turned in the direction of the place where the wolf had been left, 
and to his utter surprise saw the wolf quite a distance down the 
road, running as well as ever. We then had quite a chase before 
we succeeded in catching him again, and I congratulated myself on 
thus being prevented from tying that wolf on my mule, for had it 
came to life after I had mounted the mule, I certainly should have 
been thrown and the mule would probably have killed itself, for a 
live wolf on a mule's back would certainly have been a new kind of 
rider, as I was the only one who had ever ridden him. Since that 
time when I capture a wolf I am sure to ascertain that it is dead 
before I take any risk with it. I captured eight more wolves that 
winter, which was in 1856, and none ever fooled me again. One 
of them was so savage when he got hold of my dog's leg, I was 
compelled to pry its mouth open with my gun before it would let go. 

"My next adventure was' not long after this, when several of my 
neighbors and myself agreed to go on a hunt on Brush Ridge, and 
it is ' brush ridge,' sure enough. 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 59 

44 One T. Samples was along with us. He was a lame man, who, 
when he got under headway down hill, would run so far into the 
brush that he could scarcely get out again. 

. "As is always the case with hunters, each man thought he had 
the best dogs in the country, and it was but a little while till they 
had found plenty of wildcats, three of them in one lot. I shot one 
of them, and after running about an hour Lew McGinnis' hounds ran 
east after one of the remaining cats, and mine ran west after the 
other, in the direction of Bevington, or where it now stands. Mr. 
Stiles and my brother were with me. The dogs scared the wildcat 
into a hollow log, about forty feet long and hollow clear through, 
the dogs going in at both ends. There was some terrible fighting 
in there for quite a while, but finally the dogs came out without 
the cat. 

FAST IN A HOLLOW LOG WITH A WILDCAT. 

44 1 was the largest man in the party, and proposed that one of 
them go in and bring out the cat. But as they were not certain it 
was dead, or how many more there were in there, they declined to 
go in. We had no axe to cut the log with. I was anxious to show 
more scalps than any other member of the party, so I drew my 
coat, forgetting that I was always sure to swell when I got into a 
place where there was much pressure on both sides of my head, as 
had happened to me when a boy, I had tried to go through a crack 
or opening in the stable and got fast and stayed there till my 
brother pried the logs apart for me to get out. But I crawled into 
the log quite a distance, when I came to a place that it was with 
great difficulty I got through. I went on through until I came to 
another such place, which I found I could not get through. I then 
reached my hand through just as far as I could, and found I could 
just touch the cat's nose. I got my finger on one of the cat's teeth 
and commenced to draw it to me and go backwards, and was all 
right until I came to the small place in the log, when I got fast, 
so that I could get neither forward nor backward. 

k4 I called for help, but it seemed at first that little could be done; I 
could feel myself getting larger all the time, I therefore insisted 
that they must pull me out and John, my brother, knowing the 
difficulty rushed in and took me by the heels. I was too much for 
him, so Stiles went in and took John by the heels and both began 
to pull and the buttons began to fly. They continued to pull until 
they rescued me from my predicament, with my vest torn off and 
my shirt and pants also badly torn, and several abrasions in the 



60 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

skin, but I held to the wild cat all the same and brought it out, say- 
ing as I emerged, "we will beat Lew McGinnis anyway." 

BOY IN A DANGEROUS PLACE. 

"In 1858, I had a boy by the name of Wesley Johnson living 
with me, who was very anxious to have a wild cat hunt, and so we 
went over into the woods on North river, and "Old Battler" soon 
put a cat up a tree, which we killed without difficulty. In about 
twenty minutes more the old dog had treed another up a tall white 
hickory. - Johnson had lost his gun caps and could not shoot the 
cat. He was just about the age when a boy thinks a new knife a 
fortune. He climbed up the tree about thirty-five feet and cut off 
a limb with his knife, and put his hat on the end of the stick and 
was about to thrust it to scare the cat off, when suddenly the limb 
broke to which he was holding and he started to fall, headfirst, but 
he had an uncommonly large foot and his ankle caught in a fork 
that stood straight up. He was suspended by one leg and I knew 
that it was certain death for him to fall that distance, and was at a 
loss to know what to do. I told him, however, to hold on, and he 
caught hold of a limb and began to pull himself up and pushed his 
foot out of the precarious situation. I was thinking of the danger 
the boy had almost miraculously escaped; the boy was thinking 
something else. After he had extricated himself and turned a com- 
plete somersault, holding on with all of his strength, and with his 
back to the tree. I felt very much interested to know if lie was 
hurt. The boy replied, "everything is all right, if I only have not 
lost my knife," at the same time feeling in his pockets. He knew 
he had been hanging head downward and was afraid his knife had 
slipped out of his pocket and was lost. He still had the pluck to 
climb higher and scare off the cat and we captured it after a bloody 
fight." These things show the fun and the profits do not pay for 
the risk. 

A WIFE MURDER. 

This, one of the greatest crimes known, was committed in Polk 
county. By change of venue the case taken to Jasper county, and 
then to this, Warren county, Iowa, in 1854, and was the first trial for 
murder in this county. I was only interested as a citizen and sher- 
iff's guard in the case, and heard the testimony and what he had to 
say about it, which developed the following facts: 

That Pleasant Fouts and his wife, Ruth, had two little girls and 
were well-to-do people; had two or three farms, but materially lack- 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 61 

ing in harmony to get along peaceably — probably from a want of 
a proper knowledge of themselves as to their individual make-up, 
inclinations and purposes. These personal difficulties went on from 
time to time till he proposed to sell out and go farther west. She 
declined to sign away her interest; this did not help the matter and 
he used every strategy he could to induce her to do so. She refused 
still on the ground that she believed he intended to get his means 
together then leave her desolate. 

He finally seemed to give it up, and went himself to California, 
where he stayed I think a year or more, as he has since said, brood- 
ing over the difficulties, and wanting his property in shape to do 
business with, finally concluding to come back and make things as 
agreeable as possible, which he did, but with the purpose of going 
back. She not being willing to sell out yet, he proposed moving 
to a farm they had in the north part of the county, from where they 
were, on the Des Moines river. To this she assented; so the renter 
was notified, or the arrangements all made for that purpose, and 
they moved in a covered wagon up there. The renter had not yet 
got out of the house, which was all taken pleasantly; and as the 
house was small and the weather warm (9th day of August, 1854), 
they concluded to stay in the wagon over night. The children put 
in their nest, Fouts and his wife retired to their couch. He again 
insisted on selling out and going west. She got up and out of the 
wagon and sat down on a chair by the wagon tongue, near some 
smoldering fire that they had had for some purpose there in the 
timber or grove, not far from the house. As she sat there — as was 
thought— crying, he got up and got a big, sharp knife, walked up 
behind her and cut in one side of her throat a deep gash. It was 
thought to be not necessarily fatal. She jumped and ran for the 
house, crying aloud so that the lady of the house heard her: " Oh, 
Pleas! oh, Pleas! you have killed me!" over and over again, as she 
fell against the door. The woman of the house (-a noble and in- 
telligent spirit of the house, as was demonstrated at the trial,) met 
the falling woman as she came against the door and dragged her 
in herself and shut the door and fastened it before her husband got 
his senses about him. The lady of the house, as quick as thought, 
sought for the injury there in the dark, and by the feeling of the 
blood found the gash and held her hand on it, directing her hus- 
band to stir the fire in the fireplace and put some chips on it to 
make a light (all they seemed to have for that purpose), which was 
done, and a little light showing it to be a horrible sight. The wom- 
an made an ugly noise and then swooned away. If the good woman 



62 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

removed her hand in the least, the blood would gush out fearfully. 
She wanted her husband to run for the neighbors, but he thought 
it was not safe. Just at this juncture some one rapped on the door. 
Said the lady: " Who is there?" The answer was: "Fours.'' She 
replied: " You have killed your wife; go along off." He said: w *l 
know I have, but I want to see her once more." "You can't do 
it," replied the woman. He then stood and coaxed to be let in. 
and was finally let in. He came up and looked at her a little, and 
then suddenly grasped to pull the lady's hand from the throat, and 
at the same instant drew his knife across the poor, bleeding wife's 
throat on the other side, completely severing the arteries and wind- 
pipe. A struggle, and all was over with the murdered wife, whose 
husband had also cut the hand of the lady of the house in her 
effort to save the other woman. As soon as the murderer saw his 
bloody work was effectually done, he got out of the door in a hurry. 
The "man" of the house, from his own evidence, it seems, "was 
too much shocked to do anything," and it was quite a good bit be- 
fore his good lady could get him started to fetch the neighbors. 
When he did go at last, he slipped out and ran for dear life, and • 
soon a squad of neighbors arranged for some to go for others, 
while a few slipped up as an advance picket line, rightly appre- 
hending he would take a little time in getting ready to leave. They 
approached so quietly that he did not hear them. 

CAUGHT AND TIED. 

They discovered him at the branch, a short distance from the 
house, washing the blood off of his clothes which he continued at 
for a short time, they saying among themselves, in a whisper, "he 
will be sure to go to get a horse before he starts," but watched 
every movement. He went deliberately up to the wagon, looked 
around a moment as though thinking what to take or best to do, 
then went up as if to untie one of the horses. At this juncture they 
all rushed out and presented their guns at him and demanded him 
to stand still and throw up his hands; it was quickly done and he was 
secured. As the crowd came and learned the facts, there was a 
clamor for to hang him right up to a limb there and then, but a 
justice of the peace and some others, more cool, advised that it was 
a sure case and that it was best to let the law take its own course, 
which finally prevailed, and he was taken to Des Moines to jail, 
waiving any preliminaries, and the changes of venue had so that 
the trial was held here and verdict rendered November 3d, 1854, as 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 63 

follows: We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the 
first degree, after the above facts were fully shown. 

The next day Judge Town send pronounced the sentence, with 
tears rolling down his manly cheeks. The judge talked about the 
case for some time, how horrible it was, and the effect on the com- 
munity and on those pretty little girls, then In the room, of this 
murder of their mother; what must be their feelings for life, and 
exhorted to obedience to law and good government, then said about 
these words, "The said defendant. Pleasant Fouts, shall be hung 
by the neck until he is dead, and that the execution of said defend- 
ant take place at some public convenient place within one mile of 
the town of Indianola, within this county, on the fifteenth day of 
December 1854, at one o'clock of said day." 

We then, as a guard under the sheriff, took him to jail, and our 
old jail had steps to go up to the second story outside, and among 
the large crowd that followed along close was the two littls girls. 
When nearing the jail and about to go up the steps the little daugh- 
ters were crying as if their little hearts would break, and commenced 
hollowing in their crying, u O, don't hang my papa, O, don't hang 
my papa," frantically, and repeating it over and over again until 
he was brought back to them and assured them that he was just 
going in the jail and that the men would not hurt him there. Thus 
they were partly quieted and their suspense prolonged. 

There was an appeal taken to the supreme court on a technical- 
ity in the indictment, and it was sustained; but the case was so 
plain a one that the court had the criminal brought before it, when 
the judge told him that only for the little error of the attorney that 
drew up the indictment, he would have got what the law provided 
for such men, but as it was his sentence was commuted to impris- 
onment for life, at hard labor, at Fort Madison, whither he was 
taken, and lived for twenty-three years, and died there. What little 
there was left of the proceeds of his property after paying his law- 
yers, etc., was sent to his girls in Kansas. 

What a lesson this is to all to watch lest you fall into like temp- 
tation and wrong just for a little money, and how careful young 
people should be in selecting their companions for life. Seek in- 
formation from those competent to show you what mental and 
physical qualities will give peace and harmony and conjugality. 
There is a true mental philosophy that will enable you to do so. 
Seek it; then cultivate daily all the good there is in you, physically, 
mentally and morally, as I have said and will say often; and then 
you will be on the high road to a better life here and hereafter. 



64 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

don't let your angry passions rise. 

Over thirty-five years ago, within fifty feet of where I now lie 
writing, I saw a shocking incident in the old tavern building adjoin- 
ing my office now. There lived a peculiarly cranky, crabbed man 
who was keeping ifras a hotel. Another young man and 1 had just 
stepped into the bar-room. He seemed to be very much excited 
and angry, I think, about a pane of broken glass. He went out 
around the house to where it was broken a minute; then he came in 
with a rough oath, terribly angry, and ran against one of his little 
boys, hurting him, and set to cursing him fearfully. That fairly 
chilled my blood — it seemed so terribly wrong. But he talked so 
fast and loud that no one had a chance to be heard; but he went 
on into the other room and got a hammer that I think he came in 
for, but just as he came out again on the " double quick," he met 
the child again and actually ran over it, as though he did not care 
for its being hurt, and threatened to kill it, with the ugliest oaths 
he could get through his teeth. I think I drew my face in as dis- 
approving way as I could just as he glanced at me, and I said: 
" Hut, tut, tut, Garrison," as a kind of ejaculation of shame at him. 

He then turned his curses upon me, and d d me to attend to my 

own business, as he left the door, seeing my feelings in my face, 
no doubt, as I did not have any farther show to get a word in edge 
wise, he was so excited. But he went on around to the side of 
the house to repair the window. The old-fashioned stage agent, 
E. Hayden's, buggy was standing there with a gun in it. 

ACCIDENTALLY SHOT. 

He climbed upon the back end of it to fix the window. While 
doing so one of the little boys was in the buggy, playing with the 
lock or trigger of the gun, so that it went off and into his father's 
knee from behind him. In the strained condition of his nerves 
the shock was such that a man who saw him from off down the 
street said he jumped up very high and off some fifteen feet. I ran 
around to him, from the report of the gun supposing something 
was wrong. There he lay on the ground, shocked nearly past 
struggling. The doctor was there in a few minutes and said the 
leg would have to come off when he revived and reaction took place 
sufficient to do so. We carried him into the house then and laid 
him on the bed and awaited results. He never revived, and in an 
hour was dead. Oh, what horrible last dying words those were 
that he left me and his own children. ' Moreover, had he been in a 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 65 

composed state of his nerves the shot would not have been necessa- 
rily fatal. Again, if he had been calm he would have probably no- 
ticed the little boy's actions with the gun and avoided the danger. 
So keep cool. 

WORK AND VISIT. 

The first two years were very busy ones here, in which I think I 
did my full share, if not more, in pushing the work, for I injured 
myself in this way. Having several good contracts and hands at 
work pushing it as fast as possible, I hired a half dozen teams to 
haul logs from the timber to the mill in town, and drove three yoke 
of cattle myself part of the time so as to see what to haul. It was 
in August, hence very hot, and by the time we had helped each 
other to load the logs we were wet with sweat. I, like the rest, got 
on the logs and "gee 'wo' hawed" Buck and Berry, Bright and 
Jerry, etc. O, how pleasant the prairie breezes did feel and I en- 
joyed it for a week. Little dreaming of the importance of putting 
on a coat when so over-heated, and I only mention it here as a cau- 
tion to others, the next week T was prostrated suddenly while upon 
a scaffold at the work of putting on a front cornice on -a building, 
but luckily did not fall off. 

OVER HEATED. 

The doctors said it was a natural result of my imprudence the 
week previous; a rush of blood to the brain, the liver clogged, 
and the heart and lungs in congestion. Then came a gorge of 
medicine, and a few days later everything seemed to concentrate 
at the plexes of nerves at the stomach. The doctors gave me what 
they called their last remedy, saying that it was the only hope to 
save my life. But I got better or you would not have this warning, 
then took a long string of "blue mass" pills, and between the 
disease and the remedies I did not get over it for several years and 
I do not know which was the worst, but I think the latter was. 

Having a good set of men, my work went on and got through in 
the second winter. Then I went back to my native state on a visit, 
after nearly two year's absence. It was truly enjoyable, but 

Oh, how big the hills did look, 

How small the fields, 
Where dinner, I so oft' had took, 

While clearing up those big fields. 

Marriage bells had been ringing during my absence, and my 
oldest sister, Melissi Ann, a jewel to any man, had been captured, 
5 



ee TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY -EIGHT. 

as well as some of the stars that had attracted my attention in 
former days. 

Sister married Mr. Stephen -S. Nelson, a bright, active, indus- 
trious man, the only son of one of our best old farmers, having 
been a schoolmaster for many years. Both were old enough and 
capable of looking out for themselves, as since proved by seven of 
their own boys, not a girl to love or spoil. 

So I had many places to visit and talk of the past and of the 
west. Times were dull there, and land warrants for the soldiers 
of the War of 1812 were then being issued to the soldiers' widows 
or heirs, "Bat they generally seemed to prefer to sell them than 
lay them, and they were bought up by the rich and poor and put 
in my pockets till they were full, for me to lay on land in Iowa. 
Then after a few weeks 7 visit there I left, as now seems to me, for 
the last time for home here, going and coming by Chicago and In- 
dianapolis. 



After returning from Ohio in the spring of 1856, I made some 
collections and a trade so that I got a horse and buggy for the pur- 
pose of going out to the western part of the state to select land, 
and started west alone with a number of additional land warrants 
and money for others to be located. After the first day's travel 
the roads followed the main divides, and being well traveled it be- 
came very monotonous. "Old Gray" was as steady as clock- 
work, so I frequently got in the condition of Rev. S. Haines' con- 
gregation, as I heard him say, stopping a moment in his discourse: 
"Well, brethren, you must have a heap of confidence in me that 
I will do the preaching all right; I see some of you can sleep quite 
soundly under it." 

Some places there would be fifteen or twenty miles without a 
house, and too hot to drive fast. Struck nothing of more import- 
ance than a few little towns and one semi-Mormon colony some 
thirty or forty miles southeast of Council Bluffs, till I reached this 
last named city. Council Bluffs was the trading post for many who 
lived a hundred miles or more west, and had a few good brick blocks — 
was situated among the bluffs sure enough, some two miles from the 
Missouri river in Iowa. Here I met with a young man from near where 
I had lived in Ohio. He wanted a piece of land, and we had neither 
yet found what we wanted, so we got some township plats there at 
the land office, showing the vacant lands in Harrison and Monona 
counties. When we got into Harrison county we found it good land 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 67 

as it had been generally where we had been, but the choice pieces 
were taken with land warrants or money. One night where we 
staid the man had known many of my folks, and told me Cousin 
Isaac Davis was living up in Monona county, it was good news 
to me. We started up there; thought we could find our way and 
toward evening we inquired where we could stay that night and was 
directed to a place, got there just at dark and very tired to find 
evidence that they had just moved out. What should we do? On 
the sea of wild land, no food for man or beast or place to lay our 
heads. So we moved on slowly and hopeful that we might find 
something or somebody. Our first difficulty was where the roads 
forked and neither very plain and no sign boards, but as the road 
was a little the plainest, we concluded to turn to the right as "the 
law directs," but like the "Arkinsaw Traveler," every house we 
came to was something else, nothing like it, but we did not know 
what a step would bring forth, one going in advance of "Old Gray" 
to keep the trail and watch for the mud holes. It was quite dark 
and not the sound of anything till we must have gone ten miles; 
not even a wolf, tiger or bear to wake up our lagging energies. 
Then, "Hark! a cow bell is it not? It seems to be ahead; let us go." 
The road was so crooked that we did not know what course we were 
going. We did not have a star to guide or lead us. "Hark! that bell 
is getting plainer," and we quickened the step a little and after a 
short time we seemed to be passing it. "You halt there to keep in 
the road and I will go to the bell." So I struck up a little hollow 
and found a small "dug out" or hole in the ground, but nobody to 
answer when I called, but after awhile I got to where there were 
hundreds of cattle, but not a sign of anybody to answer my call, so 
I went back by hollowing to my comrade. I got back to the road 
and we started on, feeling that certainly there must be somebody 
here on this trail, for there had been wagons along it, and then the 
cattle, whose are they? On we went hunting, miles after miles, 
or we were not good guessers. Every one seeming like the fellow's 
"six weeks in the long month of August," and really after land 
looking all day and doubly hungry and tired, and then poor "Old 
Gray" worse off; the "lamb had got to be an old sheep," and get- 
ting upon a ridge could not see or hear a thing, I consented to un- 
hitch the horse and tie one end of the line to him and let him eat 
grass. "Then we will have to hold him as he might break the buggy 
if we hitch him to it." So my comrade was attending to that mat- 
ter and I was loth to give up the search and thought I would walk 
on further, so as to be sure there was nothing near to us, if nothing 



68 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

more, and said, "I will be back directly." I went about a fourth 
of a mile, and what do you think I found? A fence just after cross- 
ing a little bridge and evidence of man. "Halloo there, come on I 
have found it," I yelled back to comrade loud enough to wake the 
snakes; yea more, it seemed to awake a thousand head of cattle, 
with several bells on the lot not more than twenty rods away. 
"Pard" hitched up and came on while I held onto the fence so it 
would not get away till he came. "You bet" he came, but still I 
said, "come on, I have got it." We followed the then plain road 
along the fence a short distance until we came to a high gate. You 
need not query in your mind whether I opened the gate or not, I 
was just that kind of an angel then, while my "chum" could drive 
his carriage in with "Old Gray," who had a better right to go in if 
it did disturb the cattle and set the dogs to barking, off a short dis- 
tance. But here we go — to Heaven or that other place — and soon 
came to an inner gate, higher than I could reach, so I concluded to 
climb upon it and take a peep into the inner courts before opening 
it, for where under heavens can we be? I could see the shape of 
many houses close together. I opened wide the great gate, and 
"Gray" went in first; I wonder if all good horses will. I followed 
and closed the gate securely so that we were really in; in to stay if 
possible, whether the place was very heavenly or not. We ven- 
tured to go on in and all was quiet and cozy looking in the dark. 
A few rods brought us to within a circle that appeared to inclose 
some eight or ten acres of land all smooth, and houses close together 
nearly all the way around; what could this mean, I had never heard 
of such a place. You may judge of our pleasure, and yet surprise 
and awe, as it looked rather comfortable and neat and it being after 
midnight Saturday night. It made me feel a thrill of pleasure to 
know we had a haven of rest over the Sabbath, where we might 
attend worship. But as we moved slowly along the circle of houses 
we found them so very small that while I was walking in advance 
it seemed that hotels were scarce, but finally we came to a house 
that looked like it was large enough to hold two of the lost sheep 
of the house of "Israel," and I made bold to go up the steps and 
knock on the door. No answer. I knocked again and again; the 
last few times so loud that an old lady in an adjoining house came 
and put her head out at the door and softly asked, "What do you 
want?" "We want to get to stop somewhere, we are strangers." 
"Oh," says she "that is our church," and pointed to and described 
a house that she thought would provide for us. I stepped back and 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 69 

looked scrutinizingly at the sanctuary that I had been so unsancti- 
moniously hammering my fist on for admission. "Not worthy, ha." 
No doors flew open there, but when we got to the right door as the 
old lady had directed, and knocked, it stood ajar very soon, with 
another motherly looking old lady in long white robes dragging 
the floor, that really made me feel an awe seldom felt. I told her 
our wish. Indeed they would do the best they could for us, was 
the spirit of the answer. I went with her son to put away our steed 
and learned that it was a colony of Bonemoites, and that we were 
near twenty miles off our track. The lady set us a dish of bread 
and milk which filled the bill nicely and gave us a pallet on the 
floor up stairs for which we felt grateful, and for a day of rest over 
the Sabbath, as we went to sleep. 

But imagine our surprise to be disturbed in our peaceful slumbers 
sometime after sunrise, hearing men hollowing "gee; "wo" "haw 
Buck," "get up here," "go 'long Berry." Thus it went with many 
men and teams; then we could hear the mill and other machinery 
going. Our curiosity was excited to know what this meant, as we 
understood that it was a religious society. So we had to go down 
and see, but all was knocked into the shade when we got to the foot 
of the stairs and met the landlady who had worn the long white robe 
when we went to bed. Here she was now to say a kind word to us, 
but she had slipped about two feet too far through her dark dress, 
yet she was not abashed 'tho her knees had very slight covering. 
This was a little too much for my native modesty; I blushed, bowed 
courteously, and walked out doors; "whither shall we go," for when 
outside we saw young ladies going about in the same attire. All 
had got through their raiment too far that morning by some means. 
Now that we were out in the commons, we became the curiosity for 
every lady in town seemed to be attracted so as to pass close, or 
standing in the door. All in the same uniform; all new to us, but 
concluded it must be the fashion. Some people act as though they 
would about as leave be out of the world as out of the fashion. But 
these folks seemed to be nearly out of the world and fashion to, to 
us, or else we had wandered into some fairy land where they kept 
the seventh day. 

A NEW JEHOVAH. 

But here was the ox; the old fashioned ox with homes on his 
head still, the yoke on his neck, and tail behind him, so the fashion 
had not changed with him, and we must be still in a real world. 



70 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

But here was another reason to doubt it. In their explanations to 
us that they were a colony of Bonernoites that held their property 
all in common, and possessed thousands of cattle if not "the cattle 
on a thousand hills,-' and all these things were in the name and 
under control of one person, but now he was chief priest and all 
called him Jehovah. 

This was certainly convincing proof that we had wandered out 
of the veritable world that we were raised in, for if we understand 
ourselves aright, and we think we do, that personage, Jehovah, did 
not take a part in individual property arrangements in this mun- 
dane sphere. And this great personage published a little news- 
paper about one-fourth the size of a common country organ, in the 
common world, and this did not speak very well for so great a 
personage, but every avocation advertised showed that he was 
proprietor. I kept one of those papers many years. For every 
mill, store, factory and shop, a foreman was designated by name 
and added Jehovah, proprietor; even down to the lady that run the 
soap factory, his Honor was proprietor. On a second thought, the 
latter did seem quite appropriate for this personage, for soap is a 
purifier. 

But we soon struck another evidence besides the ox that we were 
still in this mundane sphere, because when I asked the men if they 
knew Isaac Davis, a cousin of mine. Yes, they did; he lived at 
the other end of the county. And there Jehovah had run for the 
office of school fund commissioner, against my said cousin. And 
Isaac Davis had beaten this great 1 am. Office seeking is cer- 
tainly an evidence that we are on terra firma, we thought. 

So we struck out for the school fund commissioners and got there 
all right in due time, and as an evidence that we were in a real 
genuine old fashioned world yet. We ate an immence amount of 
fresh fish and venison, gotten up by one of the most skillful hands 
in the culinary art I ever struck, a good cousin that time. Had a 
good time generally. Selected four thousand acres of land, and 
went back to Council Bluffs, after looking through Nebraska con- 
siderable, just in time to loose all our trouble (money spent and 
land), for congress had just passed an act granting alternate sec- 
tions of land to three lines of projected railroads across the state, 
and ordered the land offices closed till they were selected. 

This was another evidence that we were in a world of ' 'trouble 
and disappointment." 

As we learned a few years later the said Jehovah had been taken 
into that communit}' when he was too poor to pay his expense 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY EIGHT. 71 

there, yet he tried to hold all the property when the society broke 
up, as all such societies must sooner or later. The principle of 
putting the wise and the ignorant, the industrious and lazy, the 
miser and spendthrift, the delicate and refined with the coarse and 
vulgar, all together and divide the property and comforts, enforce 
social equality where it does not exist, will not work. It is viola- 
tion of natural law, common sense and what is right among men. 
Bat we were not of the "cast out " kind that could draw away even 
a third part of those "bloomer" angels, from that fairy haven. 

ENTERING- LAND. 

Having returned from the fairy land of disappointment in the 
west and returned many land warrants, still having a few for per. 
sonal friends to locate, I started for Osage, Mitchell county, Iowa, 
close to the Minnesota line— a long ride; called on friends in Mar- 
shall county and exhorted the people to flee from Buchanan to 
Fremont, they being the candidates for president, and did such 
things as I could to give variety to the monotony of travel of those 
days; I got there, and found hundreds of men in the same busi- 
ness, so that all the show to get land was to use your judgment 
from maps and such information as you could pic^ up, and enter 
haphazard such as you could, for if you went to look at it it would 
be nearly all taken before you got back, so I ran the risk and came 
out very well. 

Times had become dull and work at my trade dull; I came back 
to Marshall county, to uncle's, traded for a team and a share in a 
threshing machine, and ran it during the season; I got word that 
Mother and Father Van Tasell and family had moved out from 
Ohio during my ramblings and were then at Pella, Marion county. 
Selling my interest in the machine I brought aunt Edith Davis 
down to visit my mother and family. 

FRIENDS. 

Early in the spring of 1857 Father Yan Tasell moved on a farm 
two miles west of Indianola; of his family with him, his children 
were John, Jane, Josephine, Perry the babe, and by my sur- 
name, Caroline, Mark and Madison. He did well on a farm for 
a few years, then moved to town, still farming some, but all these 
years his principal business had been house moving. His oldest 
son, Russell, moved out here and stayed a year, went back to 
Pennsylvania and died in the late war: father's oldest daughter 



72 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

came out since, and is now Mrs. S. Nunnemaker, here. Jane mar- 
ried Ward Whooten, John married Miss Lottie Fortney, Josephine 
married Mr. Hugh White, who died in 1879, his wife dying in 
Kansas in 1890. All well recpected and doing well. 

HORSE HUNTING. 

As the writer looks upon this as an extraordinary case that others 
might profit by, he will give it. In the spring after Father Yan 
Tasell had located west of town, and got his crop in, and a large 
amount o£ corn just ready to need constant plowing, he unluckily 
turned his three horses out one night to graze on the prairie grass 
which ha^ been done occasionly before in day time. 

But this time they were missing in the morning. He hunted 
"high and low" for a week, I think as far as twenty miles away 
in some directions, and did not hear a word from them. It was 
becoming hard on him and his crop. Not willing to give them up 
for lost, yet not knowing what to do. Could not believe they were 
stolen; thought if they aimed to go back east that he had followed 
the road far enough to hear of them. I was engaged, but felt it 
my duty to try to find them if they were to be found. Securing a 
riding horse set out with the determination not to leave a "stone 
unturned." So started, thinking as one had been brought from 
Ohio, "Old Dick," "Fanny" from Indiana, " Prince" not known, 
each had some peculiarity, I started east far enough to convince 
me they had not followed the main road. Then I sought the county 
records to see if they had been taken up in any of the adjoining 
counties. Not finding them there, I rode in a circle nearer home, 
got off a few miles farther each time back and forth, which w^s 
continued for ten days till I was forty miles from home and not a 
trace of them yet, feeling that they ought to have been ' seen the 
next day after leaving somewhere in that distance or after that. 
Hope is made of desire and prospect; I had the former if not the 
latter, so I used determination in place of the prospect, to make 
hope out of, and so kept on knowing that the darkest time is just 
before day frequently, and if you don't succeed try and try again, 
so kept bravely on. Having learned in asking disinterested men 
about such things that you must interest them some way long enough 
to make them think, and refresh their memories. If you have to 
give them the most noticeable features about the matter sought, 
always reserving something, by which you may know that they 
are correct, as we all want evidence to base a belief on. On these 
principles I was moving cautiously along, when I rode up to the 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 73 

yard fence of a well-to-do farmer and called to him, told him I wa s 
hunting stray horses, asked him if he had seen any kind of stray 
work horses in the last two or three weeks; "No," was the answer 
that I had so often heard. Then I described one, "No, he had no 
clue of any." I still kept trying to interest him in the matter, his 
wife had come to the door and seemed to become more interested 
than he did and I described another that had a peculiarly deformed 
pastern joint, that gave forward in place of backward, yet a very 
fine large bay horse, that walked very proud and high headed like 
many people that are not just right. But without digressing further; 
now, there was a woman interested in this matter, that had her 
thinking cap on, and she exclaimed (excitedly) "O, yes Pa" to her 
husband, "don't you remember that about three weeks ago, that 
neighbor" such a one by name, "a way over yonder by the timber, 
told us about such horses lying there all day?" "Well, yes, I do 
now," and then they went on to tell more about the horses and cir- 
cumstances that satisfied me they were the right horses; I told them 
so. They had got so much interested as to draw near me, and 
seemed to feel as extremely good over it as if their mother-in-law 
had just arrived, and I felt almost as good as if I had a prospect of 
one. I thanked them heartily for the first clue to the direction 
they had gone, and with my most grateful bow to my informants, 
I struck for the "tall timber" where the horses should have been 
seen, made sure that the name of the person was right, got to the 
place, begun the skirmish determined to make them prove the matter 
to me, if they had seen them, for so many had seemed so anxious 
to tell me something that would help to find them that they imagined 
they had seen them somewhere, but on investigation they failed to 
materialize. Questions in this case as usual, "Have you seen any 
stray horses lately?" Answer, "No." Q. "Think a little, please." 
A. "No." "There is such an impression out," I said to the man, 
who was out a short distance from the house. A. "Well, now I 
believe I did see some colts a week or two ago." Q. "Are you sure 
they were colts not work horses? " A. "Yes, I am sure of it for I 
drove them off." Q. "Not seen any work horses in the last month." 
A. "No." The matter began to look blue to me; soliloquizing to 
myself, had those other folks been reading my mind, no says I. 
"Mr. I was told by a neighbor over 3'onder you did." His wife was 
in the door and he hollowed to her and told her about the matter, after 
talking a little, they both said "no." We were talking of it farther, 
when the lady exclaimed, "O, yes, John, don't you remember those 
horses that came up early one morning about three weeks ago and 



74 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

laid out there by the fence all day? " Allow me to remark I heard 
every word of that matter distinctly, for there now you see there is 
another woman in the matter. "Yes, yes, I do remember it now," 
said the man, "and I remember that I noticed them particularly at 
the time, but it had passed from me." He then went on and des- 
cribed each one as carefully as if he had thought of buying them, 
just about as I would describe them. That settled the matter defi- 
nitely that they had been there and quite clearly that it was the 
next morning after they were turned out at home, between forty 
and fifty miles from home, in one night and nearly three weeks 
ahead of me. at that rate, where would I be likely to overtake them 
at the rate I had been going? Boys, make a calculation, please. 
I was encouraged, concluded they must have struck nearly a "bee 
line" south-east to get there in that time. He said they started off 
in the evening around the field. With many thanks to them for 
the information — if I did have to weary them a little to get it — I 
started on concluding that they would be likely to keep near the 
same course but might vary several miles, and be taken up by some 
one, so I went in a zig zag, back and forth over the direct line, so 
as to be cautious enough not to miss them, if they should be stopped. 
In this way I went on, thirty-five to forty milerf further from home, 
when I happened to hear where there was an important trial going 
on in a justice's court. I went to it and by public inquny, heard 
of the large bay a few miles from there, and heard the others had 
been seen with him, probably the next day after leaving the other 
place heard from, he was behind and stopped with other horses to 
pick grass, and staid with them 

FOUND ONE. 

I went and found him and put him up, then went on as usual. 
Some fifteen to twenty miles further a man out in the field plowing 
corn some distance from the road, answered me that he had 'seen 
a sorrel about medium size and a larger dark chestnut sorrel going 
along the road in a sweeping trot, the larger one whinnying after 
the other as if afraid of being left or lost." He did not re- 
member the day, but it was about the right time and description. 
I kept right on as usual through the brushy rough section in north- 
east Missouri, till I was about one hundred and fifty miles from 
home, when I heard of them being taken up by a man "away over 
yonder in a deep hollow between two hills." I found the place, 
saw the head of the little sorrel sticking out of a little log stable, 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 75 

went on to the cabin, found the man at home but the women and 
three babies had gone several miles on "Old Dick." 

The man scrutinized me very closely. I described them both so 
minutely in every particular, openly and frankly, that he seemed 
to think the probability was that they were mine, but that I would 
have to comply with the law to get them, that is, prove them by 
two witnesses. He thought he had gone according to law in taking 
them up and advertising and keeping them. I told him I could 
not bring witnesses short of home, a hundred and fifty miles. I 
stayed with him that afternoon, talked on this and other matters 
till the queen of the house came home with two children on behind 
her and one before, on "Old Dick" just at dusk. Then I concluded 
to stay all night and let him dream over the matter. I knew it was 
as he said that if he let me have them without the proof that some 
"scalawag" could come on him and claim them and put him to 
trouble and expense. I did not want him to get in trouble, was 
frank and honest with him, and offered if he would let me have 
them to furnish the evidence when he called for it at home, or if 
necessary bring proof to him, etc. 

The next morning he said to me "I will risk your face." I 
thanked him for the favor and compliment, paid all expense and 
trouble, and the little children a bone. With grateful thanks to 
them I started, homeward bound, with a light, cheerful heart, 
feeling that they were anxious about me at home, mother probably 
looking on the worst side, and would now be doubly glad to see 
me come home. With one horse to ride and two to lead, could 
not go very fast. 

Having learned that the little mare was the leader in this trouble 
all the time I concluded that I would trade or sell her if I could, 
and, as the boys say, "have one of my own." The first good offer 
that I had was to trade for a yoke of oxen. I traded and drove 
them before me, which did not add to the speed any. I got to 
where the other horse was which left me three and the cattle to 
manage. The cattle were excellent good ones, but did not match 
in size or looks. It so happened that a man where I staid had a 
yoke of cattle like mine and offered to trade so as to match both 
yoke of cattle. He wanted me to say what I would give or take, 
but I told him that I preferred to have him say what he would give 
or take as he was an older man but that there was a difficult} in 
the way, I had no money to pay the boot if I chose the large ones. 
He said he would take my word for that, because he said the least 
yoke would be worth as much together as either yoke was as they 



76 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

were now miss-matched. So he offered to give or take ten dollars 
to boot. I decided to u run my face for the difference" and took 
the large cattle that were well matched and w6rth at least twenty 
dollars more than the smaller ones, so we were both benefited ten 
dollars in the trade. 

The weather was hot, and road dry and hard. Passing along as 
fast as was safe the catties' feet got very tender, they were admired 
by all that saw them. 

After an absence of some three weeks, I arrived safe home about 
midnight. one night. 

WELCOME HOME. 

The reception I received is easier imagined than described, as I 
brought all up standing by the yard gate. I hallooed, "Haloo 
there/' I heard mother halloo out loud enough to wake the others 
*'0 dear there's Arthur, poor fellow he has come at last." I 
thought what sleepless hours she has passed. But here they all 
came in a trice in their night clothes making a grand picture in the 
star light. Poor mother wanted to know if I was alive; Father Yan 
says "I think he is from the looks of things. All the rest on end 
to know where I had been so long, and where I got so much stock. 
With a little love feast for "Old Dick" and the rest all was put 
away, but the family all too wide awake and thankful to go to sleep 
soon. 

THE POETRY OF LIFE. 

In 1857 times were rather hard, and not much being done at my 
trade, so I traded some stock, horses and cattle, for a small clothing 
store, run it a while, traded it for land and the land for a stock of 
groceries, which business I was running when one day a young lady 
that I had not seen before, was just passing the door, when a clerk 
in an adjacent store, called her, "Miss you have left your change 
on the counter," and he brought it to her. I was "struck." Her 
face colored a little as she thanked him, but I thought her the very 
picture of innocence and purity, and with her large brown eyes that 
gave me a shy look as she passed, showing her abundant black 
curled hair to good advantage, also a light drab suit on a well de- 
veloped, medium sized person, filling my ideal of a queen among 
ladies. Although I had not posted myself on that subject as every- 
one should do, and hope they will; unless they are the kind that go 
ww hap-hazard" and think this world came by chance. 1 was now 
twenty-five years old, light complexioned, light brown hair, sandy 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 77 

beard, one hundred and eighty pounds or more in weight, so was 
big enough, old enough, and did not have to be as handsome as the 
girl that passed to marry. And there was not many hairs between 
me and heaven. Had I not better look a little out. It was not 
long till necessity brought the said >oung lady into the store to get 
some butter and, of course, I had some that was "nice," but in cut- 
ting off a slice with a large, sharp knife I managed some way to 
cut my finger; can't tell how, but certainly was not looking at the 
butter and there was a finger to be tied up. How careless I was, 
but "blood will tell," and of course she was concerned to know how 
my finger got along and called soon to get a box of matches. 
"Match, yes, why not a match," was my soliloquizing. I soon 
learned she was the only child of a widow lady that had but recently 
moved to town to do needle-work for a living. Her step-father, 
whom I had known as a worthy man, having recently died in the 
north part of the county. Circumstances formed an early acquaint- 
ance. 

Weeks and months did pass, 

But not very many; 
Still not your privilege to know all that passed, 

If your curiosity is excited any. 

Then to the Phrenological lecture we did go, 

Where I was put on exhibition 
And all my weakness set forth you know, 

Which left me in a condition." 

What could I do to let me out, 

But get her put on exhibition 
Which I soon set myself about, 

But could get her, on no condition. 

Time passed on pleasantly 

December came at last, 
To make it as pleasant as May 

An important question should be asked. 

When we a carriage ride did take 

I intended to decide the matter, 
So asked if she would "me take 

For a life partner." 

Her head on my shoulder dropped 

As she gave her assent, 
But thought the question must be popped 

To get her mother's consent. 

Incidently for a mother-in-law I had asked, 

Now I must ask for a wife; 
Our mother then we did ask 

And got consent for life. 

We were married December 6th, 1857, by Eev. H. H. Badly. 
Mrs. Richard's maiden name was Miss Margaret A. McKowen, was 



78 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

born October 26th, 1839, being the only child of Joseph and Mary 
Jane McKowen, he being a son of John McKowen and she being 
a daughter of Noah Silvers, all of Essex county, New Jersey. Mrs. 
Richard's father died when she was two years old, of fever, in Flor- 
ida, where he had gone to work at his trade a while, that of a silver 
smith. Her mother and Grand-father Silvers afterwards moved to 
Sidney, Ohio, where her mother married Mr. Benjamin Branden, a 
well-to-do farmer of that vicinity, who afterward moved to Iowa 
and settled in the north part of Warren county, where he died less 
than a year before we were married. During the week that we 
were married I rented a comfortable house one block northeast of 
the public square, where George Hughs now lives, and went to 
house-keeping with a mother-in-law to train us up in the way we 
should go. Although my wife was not a professor for nearly a year 
afterward, I set up a family altar the first evening and tried to have 
everything go on systematically. During the first year we had 
three weddings at our house; the last one was my mother-in-law to 
Esq. E. W. Bryant, a worthy, well-known old settler, and he got a 
wife with many excellent qualities 

In the course of a year I traded out my business and bought the 
property where we now live and moved into it in the spring of 1859, 
so then we were really at home. If the house was not very large, 
then we were at home. Having had a taste of paying rent promptly 
every month, I did not want any more of it, as I don't think it pru- 
dent for poor folks with health to do so long. With persevering 
work and management almost anyone can get a small beginning in 
a few years; it may be economy for the rich to rent sometimes. 

In our new home I planted the lot full of fruit trees and straw- 
berries, such as would be useful. The lot is in a good location, 
high and dry, and a comfortable home as illustrated. .Running 
over nearly two years our first born was born here. Then each 
jewel with some extra quality followed in succession. 

The first fruits of wedded life 

Came in the autumn of the year; 
Who would not have a wife, 

When such fruits did appear? 

A boy, with large black curley head, 

With body all in due proportion, 
Large bright eyes, in mama's bed 

Was as grand a sight as the ocean. 

Soon my mother-in-law said he had the colic, 

And we knew no better; 
She said he must have some "pelagolac," 

But experience has taught us better. 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY -EIGHT. 79 

Preston, Frank, Ella and Johny was the talk, 

Stella, Sim and Sterling gave us a good start, 
Lotty, Cory and Roscoe now complete our flock; 

Each gem from two to three years apart. 

The lack of some must be made up by others. 

If we would "multiply and replenish the earth," 
Keeping in mind the rights, love, care, and condition of the mother, 

Then cultivating, physically, mentally and morally from birth. 

BROTHERS. 

In the youthful experience of the two youngest of my fall broth- 
ers, Mark and Madison, there was nothing very remarkable, yet 
more than common, I think, in steady habits, purity of purpose and 
character, worked faithful many years and appreciating the necssity 
of culture, became more studious, seeking knowledge that would 
enable them to be useful in after life, so commendable in any one. It 
seems from home reading they had meditated on religious subjects, 
for one day on visiting the farm where they first lived, west of 
town, the last named asked me to accompany him to a private 
retreat to pray with and for him, which was a pleasant surprise to 
me, for I had always felt at least an elder brothers care for their 
welfare in all respects, and as they had proved themselves worthy 
of more than ordinary love. They had it on my part. 

The winter brought on the regular Methodist harvest time and 
they were among the first fruits as they seemed to be fully ripe for 
such help; hence, good results followed. They did not blow away 
as chaff before adverse winds, as so many do when they undertake 
anything. They were consistent with what they thought was right 
and that on the broader gauge as I believe. 



He was the oldest of the two above described, and died June 29th, 
1859 of inflammation of the brain, after the most terrible suffering 
that could be in rending assunder soul and body of a healthy, 
6tout, well developed young man that had just passed his twentieth 
year. He was mild, pleasant, obedient, industrious, thought- 
ful, loving disposition that made it a sore afflictionon to the family and 
friends, in fact the whole neighborhood seemed to feel that one of 
their special friends had fallen when least looked for. They turned 
out in a mass to his funeral, making one of the very largest that 
ever has been before or since in this vicinity. 

O, what a warning to the young should be seen in the dissolution 
described when they look into the cause. With all his good quali- 
ties, he had violated a natural law, as I verily believe, by going in 



80 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

the cold water where he and others went seining for fish. A short 
time previous, he took cold that run him into a spell of fever which 
went very naturally to his large brain. Medicine seemed to do no 
good. If one so vigorous must succumb under such circumstance, 
even after suffering so long that his mother would say as the last 
breath left him. "Thank God his sufferings are over." What 
would be the chance for the reader under like circumstance or by 
violating natural laws in any other way? If you take warning and 
do your duty, his sufferings must not all be in vain. 

TEACHING- AMONG THE QUAKERS. 

Madison, the youngest of the original family, developed in mind 
and body and proved his integrity in what he believed to be right, 
even while yet a boy, as will be seen in the following incident: 

He had so far advanced in his studies that I think it was while 
teaching his second term of school, when near seventeen years of 
age, in a goodly neighborhood of Quakers. After he had taught 
some weeks, and as was his custom, opening the school each 
morning with prayer. This, it seems, was something new in that 
school, besides some of the boys were not any better than the law 
required, and were not polite or respectful enough to conform to the 
rules during these occasions and they complained of it to their par- 
ents, who, while being very strict professors in their way, com- 
plained also of the practice; upholding the children in their opposi- 
tion and finally sent word to the teacher to desist. This did not 
help the matter any, and again word was sent to cease, or quit the 
school. Still it went on as though nothing had occurred. Then 
others complained, the matter being stirred, still not those in special 
authority; then they were complained to, but the school was so good 
in all other respects, and a contract with the teacher that would not 
relieve them any, that the teacher claimed it as his right, privilege 
and duty. Yet a large number of the patrons of the school who 
were of the same opinion still, arranged to meet at the school-house 
on a certain evening to consult on a forcible dismissal if the teacher. 
They met at the appointed time; the teacher "appeared also" in a back 
seat. The brethren proceeded to discuss the matter, and when through 
not having complained of anything else other than opening the school 
with prayer. They all, or nearly all seemed ready to vote a dismissal 
of the teacher. At this point he arose and said, with their permission, 
he would like to say a few words. No doubt that the spirit or inspira- 
tion that moved him was of fully as high an order as that which had 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY -EIGHT 81 

prompted their course. He said among other things, he hadbeen ac- 
customed to do so, and had made it a rule to not do anything that he 
could not ask God's blessing on, and was conscientious in the matter, 
and did not propose changing his rules, habits or principles on this 
point, let the result be what it would; that they had the right to 
their own opinion to take the course they thought best. At this 
point one of the "goodly" old brethren arose and said something 
like this: "Well, if thee is conscientious in this matter, I cannot 
further favor thy dismissal;" "Nor I," says another, "Nor I," "Nor 
I," said others on around till the matter was settled; even the lead- 
ers in the matter, although reeling much chagrined, sent their chil- 
dren to school. The school was highly spoken of as a success, and 
I think the teacher was held in higher esteem. While the reader 
may decide for himself which was right, he may learn the necessity 
of personal contact if not familiarity with a teacher as well as others, 
so as to have an understanding between them as to anything they 
may differ on. Such a course between neighbors and friends, will 
as in this case, dissolve all differences like the sun's rays on a cold 
snow drift in the spring time. Then good results will follow, as 
between the sun and earth, first the bud, then the blossom and 
finally the good ripe fruit. If anyone is so little as to be a bigot, 
that you cannot get him out of his mustard seed shell, leave him to 
his glory, and be sure that you are right, broad, liberal and kind, 
then with a clear conscience you will not likely be displeased at the 
results. Our Quaker friends, as usual in the outcome, showed the 
right spirit. After this brother went to the college at Mt. Pleasant, 
Iowa, one year then returned here and was the principal teacher of 
the seminary one year, making it a success, thus working his own 
way to make money to go on with his studies in higher grades of 
education. If more would do so, better results would follow. He 
then went to Delaware, Ohio, where he graduated with all the hon- 
ors of the institution. He was then stationed, his two first years at 
Mt. Auburn, in Cincinnati, and has filled a number of the best 
pulpits in that conference, and was then stationed in 1880 at New 
Castle, Delaware, then St. Paul Church, Wilmington, then Green 
Street Church, Philadelphia, three years, and the same at Law- 
rence, Massachusetts. He has a natural faculty for teaching in any 
position, and has been frequently spoken of in connection with 
college presidencies, which he is specially adapted to if he would 
accept such a position. Besides he Las proved himself popular 
wherever he has been, and a good financier for himself and the 

6 



82 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

church. And a good judge of human nature, as you would conclude 
in getting acquainted with his selection of a companion. He mar- 
ried Miss Anna Mary Stuart, a daughter of a well-to-do farmer, 
near Seven Mile, Ohio, a lady with a well balanced brain, refined 
and cultured, a good wife and well calculated to assist her husband, 
though not, physically as strong as would be best for her own hap- 
piness. They have one daughter, Luella, who is everyway worthy 
of such parents. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred 
on him by Simpson Centennary College, June 17th, 1882. But the 
doctor located in 1888, at Seven Mile, Ohio, on his fine farm ; dairy 
and blooded horses his specialty, and has broad views' of his own. 
Perry A. Van Tassel, my only half brother, was born in Ohio 
after I came west, and I did not get to see the young gent till our 
folks came to this State. As he grew in days and years, he proved 
it more and more that he was a "chip of the old block," in wit and 
capacity to do anything he took in hand to do, an apt scholar in 
school and has had a good chance, but frequently had too much 
mischief on hand to "attend to such small matters;" a leader among 
the boys, always trying to get all the fun out of anything there was 
in it, even if it was work, and he was an excellent good worker when 
he undertakes it or feels he has time to spend in that way, but more 
in his element in the ball rojm or theatre playing some amusing 
part here at home. He commenced the study of law as being 
the nearest in his line of antics and ethics. 

THE AMERICAN IDEAL. 

An independent young man; 

A right-kind-of-stuff young man; 

A deep, comprehensible, 

Plain spoken, sensible, 
Thoroughly self-made young man. 

A not-to-be- beaten young man; 
An up-to-the front young man; 

A genuine, plucky, 

Happy-go-lucky, 
Try-it-again young man. 

A knowledge-seeking young man; 
A real wide-awake young man; 

A working-in-season, 

Find-out-the-reason, 
Not-too-smart-to-learn young man. 

A look-out-for-others young man; 
A practice-not-preach young man; 

Kind, sympathetic, 

Not-all-theoretic, 
One-in-a-thousand young man. N 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 



83 



An affable, courteous young man; 
A knovv-what-to-say young man; 

A knight of true chivalry, 

Frank in delivery, 
Making-his-mark young man. 

A now-a days-scarce young man; 
A bard-to-be-found young man; 

A perfectly-self-possessed, 

Not-always-overdressed, 
Kind-that-I-like young man. 

-—Cincinnati Commercial. 

Later, though broken down in health, he became noted as a city 
marshal, successful in every way, even among the State Society of 
Marshals, of which he was secretary and treasurer until he appeared 
to cough himself out of existence, and died among a multitude of 
friends here at home, April 28th, 1890. 



..^S^gSgL- 







IOWA'S NEW CAPITOL, DEDICATED JANUARY 17, 1884. 

Length of building north and south, including porticos, 363.8 ft. ; 
length east and west, 246.11; length north and south front?,, 175; 
length east and west fronts, 118.8; height to top of cornice, 92.8; 
height to top of stone work on dome, 181.4; height of top of out- 
side stone balcony, 219.1: height to top of ball of main dome, 295.5; 
height of basement story, floor to floor, 13.1, height of office story, 



84 TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

floor to floor, 23.9; height of second story, floor to floor, 22.9; height 
of third story, floor to ceiling, 20.9; square feet of ground covered, 
54, 850 ; above the level of the sea, 1, 151 ; House, floor, 74x91.4, height, 
47.9; Senate chamber, floor, 58x91.4, height, 41.9; library, floor, 
52.6x108.4, height, 44.9; Supreme Court room, floor, 34.5x50.2, 
height, 23.9; diameter of rotunda, 66.8. 

Fourteen granite columns in rotunda; twenty-four Scagliola col- 
umns in dome; seven boilers for heating purposes; steam pipe, di- 
ameter from f to 14 inches, 184,076 feet; gas pipe, i to 4 inches, 
45,000 feet; brass pipe for hot water, 3,410 feet; galvanized iron 
pipe, f to 4 inches, cold water, 4,426 feet; iron ventilating pipe, 
1,955 feet; cast iron soil pipe, 2,145 feet; total pipes, 241,012 feet, 
equal to 45.65 miles; foundation, granite hewn from Iowa boulders; 
yellow stone came from St. Genevieve, Missouri; grey stone came 
from Carroll county, Missouri; total cost to October 1st, $2,362,- 
531.60; height to top of finial, 275 feet. 

The noble capitol to-day becomes a monument between two eras 
in the history of Iowa, dividing the frontier transitory record of the 
State from its grander history begun with the census of 1880. The 
past of our State presents a brief record which is within the memory 
of living men. No misty traditions of antiquity have either obscured 
or illuminated our course. We have lived chiefly in our anticipated 
future, to which we have sought to give form and reality. When the 
bell of Independence Hall rang out the peal of liberty in 1786, Iowa 
was unknown, except as a land whose borders had been discovered 
by the French. When Spain ceded the region to Napoleon, and 
Napoleon in turn ceded it to the United States in 1803, it was still 
unexplored, unknown and nameless. First attached in 1804, under 
the name of the "District of Louisiana," to the jurisdiction of the 
Territory of Indiana, it became in 1805, part of the Territory of 
Louisiana, and in 1812, by change of name, part of the Territory of 
Missouri. In 1834 all the country north of the State of Missouri 
and west of the Mississippi river, as far as the Missouri and White 
Earth rivers, was attached to the Territory of Michigan. Two years 
later, in 1836, Wisconsin Territory was created, ard embraced all 
that had so lately been transferred to the jurisdiction of Michigan. 

After two years more, in 1838, the Territory of Iowa was estab- 
lished, including what are now the States of Iowa and Minnesota 
and a large section of Dakota. Seven years later, in 1845, Congress 
offered to admit us as a State by the side of Florida, on certain 
conditions, which established our western boundary at longitude 17 
degrees, 30 minutes west of Washington, separating from us the 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 85 

entire Missouri "slope." This our people wisely refused; and finally, 
in December, 1846, Congress extended our western boundary to the 
proper limit of the Missouri river, and Iowa became one of these 
United States. 

THE TITLE OF "HAWKEYE," 

by the way — the story may bear repeating — came about in a very 
peculiar way. Judge Rorer, of Burlington, desirous that the citi- 
zens of this part of the world should have some agreeable designa- 
tion, wrote a series of newspaper letters under the caption, "A 
Wolverine among the Hawkeyes, " and applied the latter term to Iowa 
people frequently throughout the articles. As they contained many 
criticisms of prominent Iowa men and public officers, they created 
much interest, and the name "Hawkeye" was ever after adopted to 
designate the State and those who live in this best of all States. 
Judge Rorer is still living, yet the name will survive him, for it is 
the nom deplume of the best State in the Union. 

The number of school-houses in Iowa in 1892, was 13,000, and 
their value, $13,000,000; number of scholars, 320,000. U A school 
on every hill top, but no saloon in the valley." Population in 1892, 
2,000,000. Last year we had: 

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 

Corn 335,031,598 Bush. $100,509,479 

Wheat 2,071,968 " 25,741,039 

Oats 115,810,800 " 26,636,484 

Rye 2,051,400 " 1,333,410 

Barley 4,528,669 " 1,811,467 

Buckwheat 414,000 " 276,000 

Potatoes, Irish 25,620,350 " 5,380,273 

Potatoes, sweet 207, 900 ' c 207, 900 

Grass seeds (est) 1,750,000 

Flax seed 3,154,016 " 2,523,212 

Hay, tame 5,582,800 Tons. 33,497,340 

Hay, prairie (est) 6,800,000 

Broom corn 3,480 " 270,570 

Sorghum 2,092,485 Gal. 904,718 

Butter 168,690,715 Lbs. 33,738,148 

Cheese 5,000,000 u 450,000 

Wool 300,000 

Horses 1,095,300 76,726,750 

Mules 42,739 3,322,618 



86 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 



Sheep 452,000 

Hogs 5,921,100 

Milch cows 1,278,612 

Other cattle 2,680,247 

Orchard and vine product 

Hive product 

Poultry product 

Small fruits 

Timber 

Miscellaneous, unenumerated .... 

Total 



$ 1,430,750 

29,475,236 

23,973,975 

47,038,341 

3,000,000 

650,000 

5.600,000 

750,000 

3,000,000 

10,000,000 

$419,897,605 



A UNION SOLDIER FOR SENATOR. 

The plain Iowa people have a great many sensible notions. One of these 
notions is that the Republican party should not put all of its enthusiasm for 
the Union soldier in its platform and forget him in its ticket. — Register. 

Mr. Richards has a strong delegation at home and friends in 
Clarke county, and with his known ability and condition should have 
the support of all. It would show a noble spirit and large-hearted- 
ness of the people that the State and Nation would admire, and the 
people of this district get the best servant possible. The Murray, 
Clarke county, News says: 

While it is uncommon to send a physically helpless man to the legislative 
halls, it is just as uncommon to find helpless men who have his ambition to 
do good for the people. We judge that Mr. Richards has natural legislative 
ability and would command a large influence in the General Assembly, and 
perhaps greater than if he could move about upon his feet. Comrades. 

My daughter, Ella, was postmistress in the legislature in 1886, 
and my son, Roscoe, a page in 1892. 




IOWA'S BUILDING AT THE WOBLD'S FAIR.-A Very Large, Building. 



TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 87 

Iowa's State Fairs (John E. Shaffer, the efficient secretary), have 
no dcubt surpassed all other States in the showing of agricultural 
products, machinery, stock and horticulture for so young a State. 

Sure and productive of so large a variety of good and necessary 
things each year, we have not had to "pass the hat," but have sup- 
plied many States and Nations with needed supplies of food, free 
of cost; the last one being ship loads of corn and other things to the 
starving Kussians in 1892, the free gift of our good people. 

We are now preparing for the World's Fair with a meagre ap- 
propriation of $125,000, yet expect to make a showing second to 
no State or country in our specialties, not yet fully developed, but 
carried off the first premiums at Philadelphia and New Orleans 
great fairs. The World's Fair at Chicago, to be opened October 21, 
1892, in honor of the four hundredth anniversary of Columbus' 
discovery of the American continent, and it will show something of 
the progress made in that time. 

Iowa's notable commission is to show our progress in one-eighth 
of that time, and invite good people to come and assist in cultivat- 
ing it to make it their Garden of Eden till they go higher. 

world's fair commission. 

President — J. O. Crosby, Garner ville. 
Vice-President — J. F. Duncombe, Fort Dodge. 
Secretary — F. N. Chas.e, Cedar Falls. 
Treasurer — Wm. H. Dent, Le Mars. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

S. H. Mallory, Chariton; H. W. Seaman, Clinton; S. B, Packard, 
Marshalltown. The other members are: Theo. Guelich, Burling- 
ton; J. W. Jarnagin, Montezuma; Henry Stivers, Des Moines, and 
Chas. Ashton, Guthrie Center. 

Compilation of archaeological, historical and statistical informa- 
tion, Ashton, Crosby and Jarnagin; auditing, Guelich, Packard and 
Stivers; department of live stock, Packard; agriculture and dairy, 
Chase; horticulture and forestry, Dent; geology and minerals, Dun- 
combe; press, Stivers; woman's work, Crosby; manufactures and 
machinery, Seaman; education and fine arts, Jarnagin. 

If health and circumstances permit I may manage the intelligence 
bureau. 

Iowa was honored by President Harrison appointing Hon. W. I. 
Buchanan, of Sioux City, as chief of the bureau of agriculture for 
the World's Exposition. 



CHAPTEK V. 



Slavery and War. 

This chapter begins with the late war over the extinction of slav- 
ery. Will give my experience, after giving a brief historjr of the 
origin of slavery so far as is known and the cause of the late war. 
Will not pretend to give a history of the late war, as that would 
require too much space, and the records are plenty. 

Slavery is a condition of bondage in which one person is the 
property of another — a chattel — and obliged to labor for his mas- 
ter's benefit, without his own consent. History gives us no account 
of the origin of slavery. It was in the earliest ages of the world. 

War, piracy and kidnapping have been the common modes of 
obtaining slaves. 

History tells us that in the earlier times slaves were mostly white 
and the condition of the female slave was much the hardest. It is 
known that the Romans had slaves at the earliest dates of their his- 
tory, when the Roman army began to conquer remote nations, the 
slave population was made to include the most cultivated classes. 
We of the western world can hardly credit the manner in which 
wealthy Romans would shut up and make slaves of even their own 
countrymen, and the government did not interfere from some cause. 
Slavery varied from time to time in its nature in different nations. 
Up to the fifteenth century, the negro was sold, not simply because 
he was a negro, but because he was a man whose labors could be 
turned to profitable account. 

At the time of the discovery of America the slave trade had 
become unprofitable; but was afterwards renewed on account of 
the increasing maritime commerce. Slavery first existed on this 
continent in Mexico, although in a rather mild form. The slaves 
were allowed to have their own families, an'd their children were 
free; no one could be born to slavery in Mexico — an honorable 
distinction that has not been known in any civilized or even Chris- 



SLAVERY AND WAR. 89 

tian country where slavery has existed. Their slaves --were seldom 
sold and often liberated. 

The first slaves brought to this country were landed at James- 
town in 1620. Slavery then spread to most of the States, and wag 
not disturbed for many } T ears. After the revolutionary war Con- 
gress "resolved to abolish slavery" in 1808. America was thus in 
advance by fixing a time for the cessation of the traffic in human 
souls. Yet, be it said to our shame as a nation, many European 
nations freed,, their slaves before we did, simply because the cotton 
trade became so profitable to us. 

In 1820 Congress passed a law declaring the slave trade to be 
piracy. Bat these vigorous efforts made for its abolition by no 
means stopped the trade, so great was the demand for slaves. 
Self interest more and more perverting their minds to cover up 
their consciousness of their wrong doing, and teaching each gener- 
ation following that slavery was right, and that they had divine 
authority for it, and could quote Scripture for that, just as many 
others do for things that are wrong, leaving room for a doubt as to 
whether their authority was any more right than they were. Min- 
isters preached it, taught it, helped to subject the slave to his bond- 
age. That pleases the slave holder, and of course he would pay 
the minister well, so they were more zealous as a class than the 
politician. 

The slave owner became an aristocrat, and looked upon the north 
a3 a set of " hirelings" or "mudsills," as they termed us. 

Finally, the injustice of the slave traffic made such an impression 
on the north that they determined that it should not be extended 
into the new territories. This brought on political strife; that 
brought on the war. The masses of the people elected Abraham 
Lincoln, president. The south would not submit till forced to do 
so through all the horrors of war, so vivid on the minds of all of 
us who saw any part of the blood-shed, carnage and lingering dis- 
eases. Besides this the effects are still felt in the confused state of 
political and social affairs, and in our enormous public debt. 

But slavery, that curse that has blighted the escutcheon of 
nearly every nation of the earth is wiped out in the United States. 
Still some people tell us the world is growing worse and worse. 
Are they not to be pitied. They cannot see that any good thing 
ever did come out of Nazareth. 

Thank God, culture has and will make the world better. 



90 SLAVERY AND WAR. 



"JOHN BROWN'S BODY." 

THE ORIGIN AND CORRECT TEXT OP THE FAMOUS OLD SONG. 

From the Marshalltown Times-Republican. 

During the summer of 1861 some one wrote the following lines and 
they were published in the Chicago Tribune at that time. Immed- 
iately following it there came out anonymously also, the tune which 
became so popular and was the key-note to so many victories, and 
which we believe there is not an American but is familiar with — ■ 
old "John Brown's Body Lies a Mouldering in the Grave." I will 
venture to say there is not one in a million who could sing the song 
correctly as it was written, which is as follows, and written from 
memory: 

John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave. 
While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save. 
And now though the grass grows green about his grave, 
His soul goes marching on. 

Glory, glory, hallelujah! 

Glory, glory, hallelujah! 

Glory, glory, hallelujah! 

His soul goes marching on. 

John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true and brave, 

And Kansas knew his valor when he fought her rights to save, 

And now, though his body is a mouldering in the grave, 

His soul goes marching on. 

Chorus. 

He captured Harper's Ferry with his nineteen men so few, 

And he frightened Old Virginia till she trembled through and through. 

They hung him for a traitor, they themselves a traitor crew, 

But his soul goes marching on. 

Chorus. 

John Brown was John the Baptist, of the Christ we are to see, 

Christ, who of the bondsmen shall their liberator be. 

.For soon throughout the Sunny South the slaves shall all be free, 

For his soul is marching on. 

Chorus. 

And now John Brown, the martyr, he looks from heaven to view, 
The Army of the Union, with its flag, red white and blue, 
And heaven shall ring with anthems o'er the deeds they mean to do, 
For his soul is marching on. 

Ohorus. 

— P. D. Winship. 

REBELLION. 

"To arms! To arms!" was the cry throughout the Nation in 
1861, when Fort Sumpter, at Charleston, South Carolina, was fired 
on April 12th, by the citizens of that State and others, who were 
the leaders of what they now call "the unpleasantness." 



SLAVERY AND WAR. 91 

Abraham Lincoln had been elected president, which meant no 
more extension of slavery; no more could northern men be made 
blood hounds to return fugitive slaves; no more crouching and "I 
am at your service" to the slave oligarchy. 

The new president had issued a very pacifying message and there 
seemed no disposition on the part of the masses of the people to 
interfere with slavery in the States where it then existed. Some 
people favored abolishing it by law soon, but the reasonable prob. 
ability is, that if the south had quietly acquiesced, the matter would 
have run along for a few years until slavery became less profitable 
and then there would have been enactments by Congress making 
gradual emancipation, probably with part pay to the owner for 
what they claimed as their chattels. 

Although there had been threatening by the leaders that they 
would not submit, if they were to be surrounded by free states. 
Few thought that treason was deeply enough rooted in their minds 
to ever be put into execution. But come what will there was a 
stalwart class of men that had grown up in the north, east and 
west that was ready for any emergency if they did choose to rebel. 

That if there was any case wherein war was right or justifiable it 
was in self defense, and where the probability was that it would 
result in freeing three millions of enslaved human beings, many 
of our Quaker Abolitionists, they nearly all were, became enthusi- 
asts over the prospects, "peace or war?" The rights of humanity 
were at stake. 

The southern leaders, anticipating what would come, had, while 
in Congress, and in the cabinet of James Buchanan, transferred 
all the munitions of war, and treasury funds of the government to 
the south, and a prominent man in North Carolina during our last 
election, avowed that one of said cabinet actually went to North 
Carolina, with the President's knowledge, to organize there and be 
in readiness before the new President was inaugurated. Of course, 
there was not many knew of these things. 

President Lincoln had been mild, kind, and careful to give no 
cause for offense, but proceeded with the regular business of the 
government. In doing so he must of necessity send supplies to 
the fortifications at different places. In sending them to Fort 
Sumpter the ship was fired upon and the attack on the fort began. 
Major Anderson, commanding the fort showed the right kind of 
"pluck, " stuck to the fort till it was battered down. Then the cry 
went through the land, "Sumpter has fallen," " Sumpter has fal- 
len," "to arms," "to arms." 



92 SLAVERY AND WAR. 

Yet we were not prepared to believe that all the slave States 
would join this small beginning. Never having had any experience 
that would justify us in such a conclusion. True, South Carolina had 
to be brought to terms once before for insubordination threatened by 
John Calhoun as the leader, taking the State out of the Union, but 
General Jackson was then president and put his foot on it. Then we 
had a little whisky insurrection at one time in Pennsylvania, and a 
little insubordination about the State line between Ohio and Michi- 
gan. That was settled by giving Michigan her mineral regions 
north of ^the lakes as you can see on the map. 

So that we had come to believe all such things of this kind in 
our government might be settled in this way by prompt action. 
And I think it is probable if we had had a General Jackson kind of 
a president in the presidential chair in place of James Buchanan, 
it might have been "nipped in the bud/' but everything had been 
prepared for this event before the new administration came into 
power. 

Even when Fort Sumpter had fallen the President called for 
only seventy-five thousand men for three months. 

Each of the northern states then tried to see which of them could 
get in the largest proportion of men, and in a few days it was more 
than made up. Then the south began to feel that their "honor" 
was at stake, and men and states fell into line on that side, that 
had opposed it, and others that had never thought of doing such a 
thing. 

Our mother country in Europe, being jealous of our prosperity, 
began to pet the spoiled child and predicted success on their part, 
and made light of our little volunteer army which soon began to 
grow at the rate of three hundred thousand men at a time till there 
was soon a million men on the march. England furnished the 
confederacy munitions of war; and vessels that destroyed many of 
our vessels at sea during the war. This greatly aided and encour- 
aged the enemy, prolonging the war and causing the loss of thou- 
sands of precious lives. 

But after the war was over the demand was made of England for 
pay for their fun, and they finally concluded that our volunteer 
army was not to be trilled with, and agreed on a commission of 
select men from disinterested nations to settle and say just what 
should be allowed to settle the "little" affair,., and they agreed that 
England should pay to the United States $15,500,000. This com- 
mission and claims are known as the "Alabama claims," taking the 
name from the largest vessel of the enemy. These things and the 



SLAVERY AND WAR 93 

award of said commission go to show what help the enemy had 
during the progress of the war, besides they had the "bone" of 
contention — the slave — behind their armies to stay at home and 
raise the crops of corn and cotton, etc., to supply the army that was 
using the guns and other munitions of war, as well as the gold, 
that belonged to the United States and its supporters. But we 
manufactured our guns, amunition, clothing, and even money and 
credit, as we went along through near a thousand battles, great 
and small. The colored man could not be depended upon, on the 
side of the master, to put into the front of the battle for breast 
works for them, but when u Massa" Lincoln's "hirelings," as the 
negro and master called us, come in sight then, you could see the 
white of Sambo's eyes and teeth shine, and say, u sho' me Massa 
Lincoln," when some long, bony wag would be pointed out as the 
looked for redeemer from slavery. Many of them would fight for 
''Massa Lincoln," and many regiments were made up of them, and 
they did good service. 

September 22, 1862, Lincoln made his first proclamation about slav- 
ery and January, 1863, the long hoped for proclamation of freedom 
came; then it was to be enforced. The western army that had conquered 
Donelson, Corinth, Yicksburg, Shiloh and so many other important 
battles, started now on Sherman's march to the sea, November 15, 

1864, through the very heart of the rebellious States, down onto the 
coast where Commodore Farragut and so many other gallant com- 
manders of our intrepid navy had done such valiant service, from 
New Orleans to the mouth of the Potomac river, and inland waters, 
with a portion of this fleet in the James river, the western army 
moving toward Richmond, the eastern army with part of the west- 
ern troops there already surrounding Lee and his forces at the cap- 
ital of the confederacy at Richmond. This was making it uncom- 
fortable for their president, Jefferson Davis, and his followers. So 
General Lee started to move out and vacate the place, but only got 
to Appomattox, when General Grant, who was then in command of 
the United States army, threw his forces, under General Sheri- 
dan, in front of the retreating army which cut off their retreat, and 
General Lee surrendered to General Grant at that place, April 9, 

1865. President Davis slipped through the lines and was caught 
some weeks later in woman's clothes trying to get out of the country. 

This virtually ended the confederacy and rebellion, still there were 
roving bands of outlaws for years after this to contend with. 

Then to put the crown of shame on their pyramid of treason they 
by the hands of John Wilkes Booth, assassinated our noble, gener- 



94: SLAVERY AND WAR. 

ous and kind president, Abraham Lincoln, April 14th and he died 
the 15th, 1865. 

That caused the nation to mourn with deeper feelings of loss than 
it had ever felt before. 

WRONGS MAY BE RIGHTED. 

What has been gained, you may ask, in return for all this blood- 
shed and carnage? The emancipation of three million slaves, and 
in this the character of the nation, opened the way so that in a few 
years more the negro may be cultured up higher in the scale of hu- 
manity. x We have taught the world that a republican form of gov- 
ernment may live through the fiercest trial that can come, and that 
u a house divided against itself" need not necessarily fall. 

For wrongs may be righted 
And we all united. 

Then other nations will respect us for our course, morally, finan- 
cially and as a volunteer military power, and progressive, cultured 
people, that can hold up their heads and say, "We have a free 
country," that they may stand in awe before us, while we invite 
them to 

"Come from every nation, 

Come from everyway; 
Our land is broad enough, 

Don't be alarmed. 
For Uncle Sam is rich enough 

To give you all a farm." 

But when we come to consider the cost of these things gained, it 
makes us fear and tremble to approach the subject. 

Our national debt at one time soon after the war and when many 
claims had been settled, reached the sum of $2,756,431,571-43 Au- 
gust 31, 1865, besides the many millions that had been collected 
during the war and paid over from the various sources of revenue. 
Then the commissioner of pensions says there is now, twenty-five 
years after the war, being annually paid out in pensions, $118,560, 
649.25. 

It makes one shudder to think of the precious lives lost on the 
battle field, and then the thousands starved in southern prisons. 

Greeley says 2,688,523 union men enlisted, our loss about 300,000 
while out. If the rebels lost as many it would be 600,000, and the 
mortality from disease after returning home some 400,000, making 
in all 1,000,000 of men lost to the nation. Thousands of us almost 
constant sufferers for the last twenty-five to thirty years. Many of 
us deprived of getting out into the sunshine, or society, or business 
world, or doing the good we would like to do, or even having the 



SLAVERY AND WAR. 95 

comforts of life we had before the war, and anticipated having in 
our riper years. Notwithstanding the government is aiming to do 
equitably by us and the poor widow, with a void in her bosom for 
husband and father sacrificed for his country. Then the poor 
orphan children that might have been rich and happy could a dear 
father have lived to provide for their wants, to say nothing of the 
parents, brother, sister, friends and nation that miss "the brave 
soldier boy." He may be thinking now "do they miss me at home." 
Yet those that linger here suffer far the most, whether you appre- 
ciate it or not, and do your duty in comforting their tender hearts. 
If you have a heart, show it by your acts. You may fail in health 
and finances when you least expect it, and feel the want of sympa- 
thy and other favors. Do not think because the sufferer has lin- 
gered many years he is used to it, and make light of their afflic- 
tions; their hearts are tender, minds sensitive as well as their 
bodies. And it won't clear your skirts to depend on others doing 
what is your duty. Some of us doing our very best to make others 
as comfortable and happy as we can, trying to have a cheerful face, 
and not inflict our affliction upon you, and, thank God, there are 
people that have minds large enough to comprehend these things; 
and to look south and try to comprehend the forlorn condition of 
the orphan, the widow, the maimed, misguided confederate soldier. 
The leaders do not deserve sympathy or a right to vote or hold 
office, but we should have charity enough for the masses to be very 
lenient toward them, and let them develop gratitude for the favors 
shown by President Hayes' most excellent administration, now 
duplicated by President Harrison. Then we will try to do better 
in accord with the "silver rule" if they will obey the "golden rule." 
In accord with these grand old rules the "soldier boys" are heart- 
ily in accord with the spirit of Comrade Sergeant Tilman Joy, who 
at the close of the war brought home with him "Banty Tim" a 
negro to which a "white man committee" said, the "nigger must 
leave." Sergeant Joy's answer to them has been put in shape as 
follows by John Hay, in Harper's 'Weekly: 



I reckon I git your drift, gents, 

You 'low the boy shant stay; 
This is a white man's country ; 

You're Democrats, you say; 
And whereas, an' seem', and wherefore, 

The times bein' all out o' jint, 
The nigger has got to mosey 

From the limits o' Spunky Pint. 



96 SLAVERY AND WAR. 

Le's reason the thing a minute: 

I'm an old-fashioned Democrat, too, 
Though I laid my politics out o' the way 

For to keep till the war was through. 
But I came back here allowin' 

To vote as I used to do- 
Though it gravels me like the devil to train 

Along o' such things as you. 

Now, dog my cats if I can see, 

In all the light of the day, 
What you've got to do with the question 

Ef Tim shall go or stay. 
And furder than that, I give notice 

Ef one of you teches the boy, 
He kin check his trunks for a warmer clime 

Than he'll find in Illanoy. 

Why, blame your hearts, jest hear me! 

You know that ungodly day 
When our left struck Vicksburg Heights, how ripped 

And tattered and torn we lay, 
When the rest retreated I staid behind, 

For reasons sufficient to me — 
With a rib caved in and a leg on strike, 

I sprawled on that cursed glacee. 

Lord, how the hot sun went for us, 

And bril'd and blistered and burned; 
How the rebel bullets whizzed 'round us, 

When a cuss in his death grip turned; 
'Till along toward dusk I seen a thing 

I couldn't believe for a spell, 
That nigger— that Tim— was a crawlin' to me 

Through that fire-proof gilt-edged hell! 

The rebels seen him as quick as me, 

And the bullets buzzed like bees; 
But he jumped for me and shouldered me, 

Though a shot brought him once to his knees, 
Bnt he staggered up and packed me off, 

With a dozen stumbles and falls, 
'Till safe in our lines he dropped us both, 

His black hide riddled with balls. 

So, my gentle gazelles, thar's my answer, 

And here stays Banty Tim ; 
He trumped death's ace for me that day, 

And I'm not goin' back on him. 
You may resoloot till the cows come home, 

But ef one of you teches the boy, 
He'll wrastle his hash to-nigJat in hell, 

Or my name's not Tilman Joy! 



SLAVERY AND WAR. 97 

THIRD IOWA INFANTRY. 

When Fort Sumpter had fallen, and President Lincoln had called 
for volunteers, we were not behind others in appreciating the neces- 
sity for them, though then further from public transportation, than 
the people of almost any locality in the northern states. Yet 
Warren county proceeded promptly in May, 1861, to raise her first 
company. It was done with a feeling that such a rebellion must 
be i 'nipped in the bud." But when it came to the test with those 
of us that were married and had families to know whether it was 
our duty or privilege to go, it was no small affair. How could we 
provide for them in our absence, we could only hope to get eight 
dollars per month for our service that would not keep the dear ones 
at home, and if we were killed, it would leave them unprovided for. 
Most of the married men said then, "Let the boys go," the boys felt 
that there should be some older heads to guide them. What should 
we do under such circumstances, we asked ourselves over and over 
again. If I ever earnestly prayed to know just what was my duty 
in any matter, it was then the result of this earnest desire, was, 
while plowing a piece of ground in the big field north of town — 
not having work at my trade — while thus between the plow handles. 
There suddenly appeared before my mind's eye, a grand panorama 
passing slowly before me with such a variety of suffering plea- 
sures, evils and benefits that seemed to grow brighter and brighter 
as it left. It left me goin^ higher and higher, as it were heaven- 
ward, its grandeur, receding so slowly and beautifully. As if it 
represented the government, and me so small a speck on the bottom 
line of the scenery that so attracted my heart and mind, that it 
seemed real when it had vanished as it had when present. But 
there I was plowing as though nothing unusual had occurred. I 
was all aglow with pleasure, there seemed to be a bright ending or 
future to what I felt then a plain duty and pleasure. Nothing of 
the kind has ever occurred tome before or since, though it frequently 
comes fresh to mind with a pleasant assuring sensation. But as 
it was so out of the common or natural events of life. I never told 
a living soul of it before writing this, and will not now attempt to 
explain it. I could not comprehend it then, nor fully yet. If I 
ever do will try to give you the benefit of it. It has seemed to add 
to my hopes and pleasurable anticipation. Gross, unthoughtful 
persons may speak lightly of such things, while the thoughtful cul- 
tured person, will meditate if not investigate them. 



98 SLAVERY AND WAR. 

But under all the trying circumstances I was decided, if I could 
make arrangement to take care of my family — wife and son — which' I 
did, quickly, and went and volunteered. Then there were ' ' awk- 
ward squads " to be drilled and no tactics handy but we had two or 
more ex-Mexican soldiers that had us "fall in two lines," like the 
regulars, "front face," receive our arms, clubs, canes, broom- 
sticks, pitchforks, or anything else, to imagine was a gun; then, 
"ground arms," "take arms," " right shoulder shift arms," "right 
face," "forward march;" "left, left," and so on, right or wrong, 
until wa imagined we were " sojers;" then soon came the "rub " for 
a free born American to " present arms" to persons they did not 
feel like worshiping, but we could do it as a matter of form, and 
occasionally with a respectful spirit. 

We had enlisted for three months, but now comes the word that 
the call for seventy-five thousand men is full, and another call for 
three hundred thousand men for three years, is made. This looked 
like business, and I do not remember that a man flinched; it was, 
as for me and my house, "we are in for the war, no preventing 
Providence." The next thing to be done then, was to elect the 
officers to be shot at or hide behind a tree, owing to circumstances. 
Besides these advantages, they would have better pay and the 
"honor" of some kind of a name, good or bad, as they made it, 
while the honor to the rank and file would come largely after we 
were killed, if brave. Yet we knew so little of drill and the duties 
of an officer then that we did not feel competent, and I, among 
others that were put in nomination, declined, not wishing to take 
the responsibility if we could have been elected, and you know 
there are few things more uncertain than an election, in many 
places. But A. L. Ogg was elected captain ; a small man, who 
had been in the Mexican war as a private; George W. Clark, a 
large, fleshy young lawyer, was elected first lieutenant, who was 
afterward made quartermaster of commissary for the regiment, and 
after that, colonel of the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry — an excellent 
regiment, which did valiant service, the colonel being breveted gen- 
eral; P. G. C. Merril, a large, middle-aged, worthy old settler, was 
elected second lieutenant, afterward first lieutenant. Then we 
were presented with a nice silk flag and a testament apiece, both of 
which showed the effects of bullets, etc., during the service. 



SLAVERY AND WAR. 99 

PARTING WITH LOVED ONES. 

"The maid that binds her warrior's sash 

With smile that well her pain dissembles, 
The while beneath her drooping lash 

One starry tear-drop hangs and trembles— 
Though Heaven alone records the tear, 

And Fame shall never know her story, 
Her heart has shed a drop as dear 

As e'er bedewed the field of glory. 

"The wife who gird's her husband's sword, 

'Mid little ones who weep or wonder, 
And bravely speaks the cheering word, 

What though her heart be rent asunder, 
Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear 

The bolts of death around him rattle, 
Has shed as sacred blood as e'er 

Was poured upon the field of battle. 

"The mother who conceals her grief 

While to her breast her son she presses, 
Then breathes a few brave words, and brief, 

Kissing the patient brow she blesses, 
With no one but her secret God 

To know the pain that weighs upon her, 
Sheds holy blood as e'er the sod 

Received on Freedom's field of honor." 

Then the hard trial of parting with loved ones; their part proba- 
bty being the hardest, not being as hopeful and deteniined as we 
were. Some of them went along with us several miles, when we 
started for rendezvous at Keokuk, Iowa, in wagons; and, as turned 
out to be the case afterward, the old "deceiver came also" and 
" boo-hooed over us," more than any one of our true friends, out 
two miles from town; his " satanic majesty" soon after slipped 
off and through the lines down south, where he properly belonged; 
the latter party was no worse than those that were a snake in the 
grass behind us; their putting out the well wishes and tears of the 
crocodile persuasion, was plastering it on too thick for the boys to 
ever forget and forgive. 

We got on the cars at Ottumwa, Iowa, and were soon in rendez- 
vous, at Keokuk. Here we soon got our hay and blankets and were 
quartered in a large brick, where for a few days we used our own 
spoon, knife and fork on a tin pan for a plate, to the best advan- 
tage we could, on what " Uncle Sam " furnished. There was con- 
siderable contrast, it is true, with the feasting furnished us by 



100 SLAVERY AND WAR. 

friends a few days before. Some complained, but it was gener- 
ally thought they were the ones who had generally fared worst at 
home, but they frequently found it harder afterward. But most of 
us did not expect home living and pleasures, hence got along very 
well. We were mustered into the United States service June 8, 
1861, for three years. Nelson G. Williams, of Delaware county, 
was appointed colonel. 

IN CAMP. 

We went into camp on the heights above the city, choosing our 
mess mates as near as we could, cooking our own rations, as some 
of us soon learned how to cook our beans in a sheet-iron kettle, or 
bucket about a third larger than a common wooden bucket, but 
others of the boys would manage to let them burn as often as a 
very careless woman would; in our tent we tried to have it family- 
like as possible, even to the altar, which we kept up when possible. 

The obsequies of Senator Douglas was celebrated June 11th, in 
whose death the country had lost a great leader. But he had just 
lived long enough to advise his element of the democratic party to 
assist in putting down the rebellion then breaking out and it did a 
vast sight of good, I think. While there in camp some of us got the 
benefit of our first heavy, drenching rain; doing guard duty, walk- 
ing our "beat" to and fro in silence, was a new wrinkle in Iowa, 
that did not seem a necessity there to us. Then we would carelessly 
forget to present arms, or raise our old hats to the blue coat with 
brass buttons, and a gold banded Zouave cap with an officer inside, 
we must of necessity be drilled daily till we could come to time in 
all the little maneuvers; the smaller the man, or officer, the more 
he required of us; but it was a regiment of large, stalwart men that 
meant business and did not care to have too much formality about 
it. On the 24th of June we got our first pay and the old Spring- 
field musket, which was about as dangerous at one end as the other; 
four days later we broke up camp to go on to the Hannibal & St. 
Joe railroad in Missouri, where the First and Second regiments had 
preceded us two "long" weeks. We wanted to get where there was 
something to do that would leave the sham part behind; we found 
it, but had a pleasant parting with the good people at Keokuk, also 
had a ride down the river to Hannibal. 

Then we went west, looking for "Bebs" which were in the major- 
ity and they were then organizing under General Harris. Hence, 
we were in danger as we had not yet been furnished with ammuni- 
tion. If the enemy had known this, they would probably have 



SLAVERY AND WAR. 101 

attacked us. This was very imprudent, for, Lad we been attacked, 
we might have lost many good men if not an "officer." We all 
had too much baggage to even run well, but we soon learned 
enough to send our extra tine clothing home, and watch as well as 
pray for the enemy. The Union people were glad to see us, as 
they had been kept "in hot water" now for several weeks. We 
received many eulogies as being so uniformly large a regiment of 
men, but as afterward turned out the lighter class of men proved 
to be best adapted for the varied service. Even some of the small- 
est well proportioned men, like Silas Coryell, or "Curly" as we 
called him, were at the foot of our company, never were found 
wanting. Something would hit or hurt the big fellows frequently. 
But we run the gauntlet, stopping a few places on the railroad, be- 
fore we stopped at Grand river and Utica close by to guard the rery 
large bridge over that stream, and made it headquarters, while 
scouting all over that part of the country and running to and fro 
on the railroad to protect it at other points. On the Fourth of July 
we celebrated the day as we never had before. We had been noti- 
fied that we might be attacked any minute. About three o'clock 
while sleeping soundly, an under officer came around saying to us 
in a subdued tone, but very earnestly "To arms! To arms!" and 
as a comrade says, just in time for us to hear two or three shots 
from the sentinels and the long roll begun to beat at a fearful rate. 
We had not heard it before under such circumstances, but knew 
what it meant. We jumped out of our beds quicker than if a tor- 
nado had struck us. It took, of course, two or three seconds to get 
awake; where were we? What is to pay? Suddenly the whole 
thing flashed upon us. We were soldiers, in the enemy's land. 

Imagine a soldier in this predicament; he springs for his gun, 
then for his shoes, "where are they?" "someone has got them on," 
is a common clamor, and no attention is paid to what is said, even 
doubtful if another hears him. A cool listener might hear through 
the canvass, "Where the devil's my hat?" "Who's got my boots?" 
"They're right on us; don't you hear the guards firing?" "Hold up 
your gun there, you will jab somebody with your bayonet!" "I 
don't load till I get orders!" "There, I've lost my last cartridge!" 
The officer outside saying, "Fall in! Fall in!" Some of the soldiers 
had shoes on, but "they don't fit; goll darn it." He bumps his head 
against the tent pole and other things happen until he is wide 
awake. "Fall in! Fall in!" and he falls in, gun in hand ready for 
business. 



102 SLAVERY AND WAR. 

" Where, oh, where' s the enemy," all kinds of feelings and 
thoughts are darting through him. "Is it a false alarm," "which 
way are they coming." Then word comes that the guard had fired 
prematurely on some animals in the dark. "Break ranks and go to 
your quarters." These things frequently occurred. Occasionally 
spies would aim to creep in through the picket lines, so we had to 
be on guard. 

The word had just reached us that Capt. John Scott, of Story 
county, had been appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, and Capt. Wm. 
M. Stone^for Major of our regiment, the latter since Colonel, then 
Governor of our State. The regiment and loyal people celebrated 
the Fourth in good earnest, and these new officers made speeches, 
such as few men could make. In our mess I got up the Fourth of 
July "slap jack" for our first lady visitor from home, Mrs. Lieuten- 
ant Merrill. She had a hearty laugh over our "modus operandi" 
in the culinary line. I only took my turn at that business, but 
could cook the beans without burning, and hence I or Rev. Little 
had to do such things on extra occasions. Yet I do not think I 
ever cooked a half dozen meals of victuals at home before or since. 
It was a treat to have a good visit from a lady at home. The next 
day we got our new uniforms, ammunition, cartridge boxes, knap- 
sacks, haversacks and canteens. Our suits were gray cassimere of 
excellent quality and shade in color, furnished by the State of Iowa, 
nicely trimmed in blue and buttons of a good quality put on as the 
officers, three on the sleeves. With our jockey hats we made a fine 
appearance, but it was soon learned the enemy had adopted that 
color, and the government furnished the blue. So we sent these 
suits home, but when we came to put on our woolen shirts at that 
time of year, it seemed out of place and those of us that had never 
been used to it had a terribly nettly time of it, but when we got 
used to it found we were more comfortable in them than in cottou, 
even that time of the year. Our company G guarded Grand River 
bridge there for over a month. I, with others was on picket every 
other night from dusk to daylight, hardly an exception. This was 
made almost intolerable by the large mosquitoes that tried to eat us 
up, while they kept us awake, yet it was almost impossible to hold 
a gun in readiness and keep your hands going constantly to fight 
the mosquitoes. They made us sore. This with camp duty, drill, 
and scouting parties kept us very busy, and the malaria gave about 
half the boys the ague while we were there and others of us took it 
after we left there while on long marches. 



SLAVERY AND WAR. 103 

BORROWED TROUBLE. 

Some parts of the regiment had been in pursuit of General Har. 
ris' forces, and had little skirmishes with him and others. During 
the time we were at Grand river our scouts reported the enemy 
approaching a number of times, occasionally in strong force; so it 
was frequently "to arms, to arms," nearly always at night, and 
we would have to stand in line of battle for hours, occasionally 
with the railroad for breastworks, or elsewhere. The purpose with 
the enemy generally was to burn the very large, long bridge at that 
point. But long continued vigilance on our part, and anxious 
expectation and apprehension was the price we paid for safety; it 
was not all borrowed trouble either, like some people have, similar 
to that of "Biddy, the maid," who came in from the back }^ard 
with her head down, breathing hard, as if there was something ter- 
rible the matter. When she was asked by the sympathetic lady of 
the house: "What is the matter, dear?" "Oh! dear me!" The 
question was asked again. " Oh, dear ! I was just thinking if 
some good looking young man would come along and we should 
get married ; and, and, and our dear little boy should fall down in 
that open well in the back yard, how terrible it would be !" 

General Hurlbut was in command along the railroad, who 
ordered us relieved in August. T<he regiment camped after this for 
a short time at Brookfield, and was at Chillicothe and Macon City. 
There were many expeditions by the regiment from these points 
during the summer, fall and winter, where they did excellent ser- 
vice in ridding Missouri of the enemy, many of its members being 
wounded, crippled, diseased or injured in some way, which would 
be interesting to relate, but this article is longer now than I 
intended to make it, only aiming to show what new beginners go 
through and feel like in starting out on such an occasion. I would 
like to speak of my comrades in their individual relation to us if I 
had space and could do each one justice, many of them being 
worthy of more credit than those higher in rank. As they went on 
through the war or fell by the way at or between such battles as 
Blue Mills, Wilson's Creek, Donelson, Shiloh, Yicksburg, rebel 
prisons and Sherman's march to the sea, and the many hard marches 
they went through, I will give a brief synopsis of one of them and 
close this article. 

KIRKVILLE TRIP. 

The last days of August and first days of September, 1861, were 
spent in an expedition from Macon, Mo., to Kirkville, in pursuit 



104: SLAVERY AND WAR. 

of General Green's forces. Those of the regiment able to go, 
about one-half, fell in line at midnight, with forty rounds of ammu- 
nition and three days' rations, with three pieces of artillery and a 
company of mounted Missourians, all under Lieutenant-Colonel 
Scott. We marched along, speculating what might happen, as 
usual, seldom having any correct idea of it until afterward; the 
weather hot, and roads dusty, a day's travel made very sore feet for 
many, and we were glad to stop and rest and eat our pilot bread 
and raw meat — old bacon, the crackers so hard we could scarcely 
break them at all. But it is appetite that makes things taste good 
occasionally. At La Platta we learned there was a gruff, tough old 
landlord who occasionally displayed a rebel flag. A lieutenant and 
a couple of men proceeded to get it. The landlord boasted of it. 
The lieutenant told him, "We will take it, if you please." Then 
the lady claimed it as hers. They refused to give it up. The lieu- 
tenant said: " Men, take him along," and they walked him out. 
Then the tune was turned, the old lady and children crying, " You 
may have it, you may have it." So we had it as an ornament. 

The home-guard thought they had discovered camp fires ahead. 
After some cautious movements by a squad of them it u panned 
out " to be two old women washing; then there was some fun at 
their expense. As we marched along, tired and sore-footed, we 
had many additions to our ranks of loyal men with their rifles, who 
seemed to mean business, and were "wondrous glad to see us." 
Only one man was seen on the road at work, though thickly sel- 
tled; the boys cheered him. An old negro seemed amazed: "Hole 
heeps o' people; look dar ! gory mighty, de'eve got lightning rods 
on der guns ! de Secesh no stan' dat !" 

As we approached Kirkville we heard that Green had some fif- 
teen hundred to three thousand men, and it seemed probable he 
would attack us. Colonel Scott and Major Stone made speeches 
to us; the boys seemed anxious to meet them, and we marched into 
Kirkville to the tune of Yankee Doodle on the martial band, flags 
a-flying; soon arrested a few of the leading "rebs," they took "the 
iron-clad oath" and were released. Many of our men wanted to 
proceed and attack Green where he had retreated to, seven miles 
out of town, but the Colonel's orders were to stop and hold the 
place. 

We went into camp in the edge of a dense grove in the south- 
west part of town. No camp equipage, and supply of hard crack- 
ers and meat exhausted, so we had to take what we could get after 
the rebels had scoured the country and town, but still the leaven 



SLAVERY AND WAR. 105 

worked, and we got some corn bread and other things. During 
the week that followed, there were things got contrary to orders by 
some of the hungry boys. Scouting parties were sent out as soon 
as we got settled. One of them got inside the picket line of the 
enemy and called on the pickets from that side and when challenged 
answered "friends," and rode up on to them drew their guns on 
the picket guard and took them prisoners, and brought them in. 
There was all kinds of talk before them as to what would be done 
with them, as shooting, hanging, and others favored treating them 
as prisoners of war, and hang the leaders. The prisoners claimed 
they had been deceived, were not bad appearing men. They were 
finally allowed to take the oath and were released. 

Our pickets reported a cavalry force approaching, I think three 
times. We cut saplings and piled them on a fence for breast works; 
a few shots from our cannon and all was quiet. Corporal Dix of 
Company U C" was killed while out on a scouting party. They had 
went into a house and a larger party came on them, when there was 
a sharp fight between them with this sad result, which we all felt 
keenly as he was a brave, daring fellow. 

The home guard kept coming in till we had four hundred of them. 
They called us the regulars and would order their men to "fall 
into line like the regulars." This caused a great deal of amuse- 
ment. 

Then General Hurlbut came with the Sixteenth Illinois Infantry 
and we now had all told sixteen hundred men, and expected to be 
led to Green's camp. But Hurlbut would not go or allow our reg- 
iment to attack, but issued an order of some kind and sent it to 
Green, he took the hint, and struck out southeast. We pursued 
him on hard marches, that some of us were not in a fit condition to 
do, having taken the ague since starting, yet the first afternoon we 
went sixteen miles and camped. This was killing on us that were 
not well. Thus we went for four days in Green's wake, and not 
food enough for one- third of the men, and our company failed to 
get the "sheep" provided for the third day, another company get- 
ting two and eating them for their breakfast, that left us minus 
anything. The days were long and terribly hot, and this kind of 
marching killing off men faster than a battle with Green's forces, I 
believe. At all events we would have thought more of Gen. Hurl- 
but had he given us a chance and not let Green get the start of us. 
Some of the details on this march would be interesting, but cannot 
give them. After making this trip of about one hundred miles in 
the circuit, the afternoon of the last day, one of Company "A" 



106 SLAVERY AND WAR. 

boys was killed and others wounded, by going ahead of the com- 
mand when it had stopped at Shelbyville. This caused our'com- 
pany to be thrown out on either side of Gen. Hurlbut as a skirmish 
line to go through two miles of timber just when it was more than 
hot and sultry; this left us nearly boiling hot when we got through 
the timber. It had clouded up and commenced raining soon after 
leaving the timber, and rained very hard till night, by which time 
we had gone five miles after it commenced, and it had turned to a 
cold "northwester" that chilled us through very soon after halting, 
as we had not a dry stitch about us or to put on, first wet with 
sweat then rain. But we had just reached the railroad at Shell- 
bina, a deserted station, from which point our colonel with a few of 
our men and other troops had gone down to Paris in pursuit of 
Green's forces. We built up fires of the railroad wood to dry, but 
this was too long and tedious a task for soldiers that were worn out. 
Of course many took severe colds, some to last a life time with 
terrible suffering. The next morning we got on two trains of cars 
that had come for us to go to Brookfield camp. We had run only 
a few miles when we were attacked by a considerable force of 
rebels concealed in the timber through which the road passed. 
Our company was in the front car of the front train, and they made 
everything ring for a little while, the bullets whizzing about our 
heads like bees, peppering the car full of holes. We were stopped 
quickly to pursue them, but by the time our forces got started into 
the timber, one train each side of it, the rebels had run back to 
where they had horses and went out of the timber as fast as horse 
flesh could carry them . 

We then went on to camp; General Pope came on and relieved 
Hurlbut, and he and Colonel Williams were sent to St. Louis for 
trial. They had been drunk, and failed to do their duty. All honor 
to the boys. 

At a reunion, banquet and ball by the soldiers of Warren count}^ 
held Christmas day, 1881, we had one of those grand, good, social 
times such as we had when our regiment met in the fall before. Let 
us all cultivate this whole-soul, free and easy -spirit that will make 
us all purer and wiser every time we meet, and look back over the 
past. Then let our thoughts rebound to the great future of this 
country and we can then see the fruits of our labor. Among the 
many other good things that occurred on- that memorable evening, 
was the following, as reported by the Advocate Tribune in reference 
to our national bunting: 



SLAVERY AND WAR. 107 

COMPANY G'S FLAG. 

The most interesting part of the evening's proceedings was the action had 
relative to the old battle- torn flag of Company G, Third Iowa Infantry. The 
company was called for, and the eight or ten who responded were heartily 
cheered. 

Mrs. Ella P. Clark was called upon by General Given, upon his displaying 
the old flag of Company G, to make a historic statement respecting said flag, 
when she said: 

Over twenty years ago ladies of Indianola made and presented this flag to 
Company G, of the Third Iowa Infantry; this was the first company raised in 
Warren county and was regarded as our first beloved. It was composed of 
some of our best citizens who went forth at our country's call to defend our 
flag, and if need be, to die for it, which many of this company have done. 
This company has been riddled, decimated, shattered, and by the exigencies, 
casualties and the fatalities of war reduced to a mere handful. 

Their bravery was repeatedly put to the proof, and was not found want- 
ing, as the arduous achievements at Blue Mills, Shiloh, Matamora, Vicksburg 
and Jackson will testify. A precious remnant re-enlisted as veterans and 
marched with Sherman to the sea, thence northward to Goldsborough, and 
afterwards participated in the closing scenes of the war. 

Here Lieutenant L. C. Anderson in an appropriate speech returned the 
flag to the original douors, the ladies of Indianola. Mrs. Clarke received the 
flag and spoke as follows: 

You have returned this flag to us covered with glory. It is worn, shat- 
tered and torn like the company that carried it. "Yet in consequence of that 
which you and your comrades in arms have done our union is maintained 
one and undivided. I have not been able to see all the ladies that made this 
flag. They too are scattered far. Some have found homes in other States 
and some in other counties of this State; and three whom I remember have 
been called to their home in heaven. Yet those whom I have seen think 
with me that you have earned the right to repossess and keep this flag. 
Therefore we wish to again present it to you; not to be carried in war, but 
to be kept in our midst in peace as an honored relic. Teach your children 
to respect this flag and to love the principles of our free government. Let 
the oldest of this company residing in Indianola take charge of it as long as 
he shall live, and then hand it to the next eldest, and so transmit it, and 
finally let it be put in our public library for safe keeping when the last one 
of you shall be called to close up the broken ranks in heaven. 

At the request of the company the audience voted upon this proposition, 
deciding it in the affirmative. Under the rule adopted the flag fell to the care 
of A. W. Richards, and is now at his house. 

The following original poem 'is by one of our good citizens, for the occa- 
sion. He is also the author of " Old Kentucky Babe," of fame. 

THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 

JPOEM BEAD AT THE VETERAN'S BANQUET BY CHAPPELLE CLARKE.] 

Arma Virosque Cano. 
Hark, the boom of guns at Sumpter! 

Strikes upon the startled ear! 
Smoke and flame commingling lifted 

High in spiral twist appear. 



108 SLAVERY AND WAR. 

Now, it comes, that mad rebellion, 
Lifting high its horrid head: 

And with warlike preparation 
All the sky is black and red. 

Every patriot feels insulted, 
Feels the insult is his own: 

And the workers of secession 
For this insult must atone. 

Not with greater speed did Putnam 
Hasten to the ranks, of old; 

Plows were left to rust in furrow, 
Hastened they to be enrolled. 

All to war were unaccustomed; 

Everything was stiange and new; 
But the ranks with speed were crowded 

With the eager boys in blue. 

Less than two months' preparation; 

Short the time and great the work; 
Few there were that wished to dally; 

Few to idle, few to shirk. 

But there were a few of this kind. — 
Copperhead! they bore that name. 

All devoid the pride of patriot; 
All devoid the sense of shame. 

Northern traitor! — Southern rebel! 

Wide extremes that won't compare- 
One a base and sneaking coward 

'Tother brave to do and dare. 

Of the skirmishes and battles, 

To recount I've not the time; 
Now and then a wretched blunder; 
- Others in their plan sublime. 

Instance of the first at Bethel; 

Ball's Bluff also comes to mind; 
First attempts for taking Vicksburg — 

Valor led by eyes all blind. 

Bull Run was the biggest blunder; 

Shiloh shouldered up quite high; 
Large the forces, vast the numbers, 

That marched forward but to die. 

But the second day at Shiloh, ' 
Buell coming on the field, 

With Crittenden, McCook, and Nelson, 
Forced the rebel ranks to yield. 



SLAVERY AND WAR. 109 

All that fought had equal merit; 

All were brave as brave could be; 
Armies dashed in maddened conflict, 

Like the billows of the sea. 

Not more true was Spartan valor 

History has handed down; 
Not more grand was Roman .prowess, 

Conquering held or fort or town. 

Ne'er a war of such dimensions, 

Has the eye of mortal seen; 
Search the annals of all battles, 

First and last and all between. 

Count our men and our munitions; 

Count the fields by valor won; 
Not such feasts of martial bravery 

E'er were seen beneath the sun. 

Xerxes with his power and projects; 

Alexander, called the Great, 
Fought no battle to be proud of 

When compared with those of late. 

Caesar with his mighty legions, 

Bonaparte more recent still, 
Cannot quicken up our pulses, 

Make the patriot heart to thrill, 

Like the deeds of Grant and Sherman- 
Show their equal you who can — 

When they war to save a nation, — 
Fighting for the rights of man. 

But it cost us, Oh! it cost us! 

Treasure? Money? — They are dirt] 
Brave ones killed, our dear ones wounded, 

Loss of friends, 'twas this that hurt. 

Scarce a home within our borders, 

That a relic has not got — 
Soldier coat of father, brother, 

Punctured by a rebel shot. 

Oh! the brave ones unreturning! 

Braves that spoke their last good-bye 
To the fondly loved companion 

With the anxious tear-dimmed eye. 

Anguish tore her heart at parting: 

Sorrows thronged her, day by day. 
Fear was on the constant outlook 

All the time he was away. 



HO SLAVERY AND WAR. 

Bright and pleasing is the picture 
Rises to my mental view; 

"Tis the soldier home returning 
To the hearts that love him true. 

How she watched and longed and waited! 

How her anxious heart did yearn! 
Hopes and prayers found full fruition 

In her husband's home return. 

We've a country all united; 

Brothers all from Gulf to Lakes; 
Naught of war's wild loud commotion 

On the listening ear now breaks. 

Men their peaceful avocations 
Now pursue throughout our land, 

Happy homes and happy households 
From the mountains to the strand. 
Indianola, Iowa, December 26. 1881. 




PERAMBULATING COT OR INVALID CHAIR. 

A double blessing on wheels, the first cot of the kind ever made. 

MY INJURY AND ITS RESULTS. 

The writer's present condition is one of the fruits of the last 
described expedition. The purpose now is to give the circum- 
stances of the origin, and continued results for thirty years, as 
briefly as I can, to make it plain. 

The exposure during the summer of 1861, while at various points 
in Missouri, in the United States service, especially the malarious 



SLAVERY AND WAR. Ill 

conditions on Grand river caused half of my comrades to have the 
ague. In my case it did not fully develop until on the long march 
art; Kirkville, Mo., when exhausted with fatigue. 

Then I shook each day 

In the good old-fashioned way; 

The doctor "shoveling quinine" from day to day 

To scare the tormentor away. 

The next day after it left me we routed rebel General Green's 
forces and followed them sixteen miles, in the afternoon, it was hot 
as August gets. I was fleshy, my head buzzing from the quinine 
I had taken, but not having had any that day, or afterward, I felt 
very weak, having eaten very little for a week past, and then did 
not have enough for one good meal a day for the next three days 
while pursuing Green's forces, yet I marched all the way, and 
would get so stiff in my lower limbs when we halted or stopped 
awhile at night to rest, that I could scarcely start at all, so the 
officers allowed me to walk out of line and get along as best I 
could and keep in motion when the command would halt to rest, so 
that I could go and keep along. I did keep along, but God only 
knows how. The last day of the march our company was thrown 
out as a skirmish line on each side of General Hurlbut, to go 
through two miles of timber, where the enemy had killed one and 
wounded others of our regiment that were in advance. I fell in 
line under protest of my friends, who knew, as I did, that I was 
not in condition to do so, yet I did not want to be found wanting 
where there was danger or duty to do. But I went through that 
timber, part of the way on "double quick," as I was the extreme 
left hand guide man in the line, expecting at every step to meet 
the enemy. When we started in it was not only very hot, but 
sultry, as just before a storm, occasionally. When I got through 
I was probably as hot as a man could get and live; my friends 
claimed then I would drop dead if I was not careful. I think now 
it is probable I would if I had stopped a few minutes; but, we had 
five miles further to go to get to the railroad, and it soon began to 
rain; we hurried on, and thus I kept up the heat and circulation, 
notwithstanding the storm burst on us in torrents, blowing from 
the northwest fiercer and colder till night, by which time we reached 
Shelbina, a railroad station in Shelby county, Missouri. Thus 
double drenched with sweat and rain, and quite cold to us in our 
wet clothes, without a dry stitch to change, it seemed like one 
extreme following another. We made up fires and I tried to dry my 
clothes for a while, but felt so exhausted I could not stay up, and 



112 SLAVERY AND WAR. 

friends helped me into an old house, and some one secured a quilt 
somewhere there, and all of us laid on it that could on the floor. 

The next morning I was so stiff all over, that it seemed like 
breaking every fibre in me to move at all. But when it came time 
for the cars that had come for us to go west to camp, to start, I 
got on, but cannot describe my feelings. Once there sitting on 
our bench in the front car of the front train, I felt a little brighter, 
and held on to my gun as all did, for the railroad was a dangerous 
place then. We had run less than five miles, I think, when pass- 
ing through a point of timber, the bullets came whizzing about us 
so fast that it was no use to dodge. Yet it seemed a little natural 
to try to miss their course, especially when they would make the 
splinters fly in hitting the wood at an angle, and really make one 
restless, no difference how much starch he had in him, and then 
feel as if he wanted to strike back at those reckless fellows that 
were wasting so much ammunition by their carelessness when the 
confederacy could not afford it; all in all it was enough to make us 
feel like killing them for their own good as well as the country at 
large for it is a nuisance to have such a reckless body of men any- 
where, and Major Stone — since Governor — no doubt with the 
intent of killing those "fellars," ordered the cars stopped as quick 
as he could dodge the first pint of ammunition, and get a word in 
edgeways, which he can do if any .man can, while we were dodg- 
ing the balance. He said, u Oome boys," and he made a leap over 
a very deep wide ditch from the side door of a box car up on a 
track eight to ten feet high, the boys following like so many lambs 
for the slaughter, but many of them could not make it, and went 
to the bottom of the ditch and had to be helped out. I was a good 
jumper, generally, and did not think of my starchy condition just 
then, so I went over the ditch, but it was my last jump, September 
3, 1861. I had sprained my back in a lighting and injured the bones 
at the joint where the sciatic nerves put out that pass over the hips. 
The rebels had run back to where their horses were and we could 
see them going as for dear life over the ridge beyond, so there 
was but little ammunition wasted on them, and did not stop to see 
if it did any service. 

Then it was to help each other on the cars. I must have got 
there somehow, but the how I cannot tell though I suppose it was 
by the pushing and pulling process as would be usual in such cases 
with a lot of live men. Three comrades say they helped me on 
the train and swore to it. 



SLAVERY AND WAR. H3 



MY INJURY. 



Then there was constant pain at the injured joint in the small of 
my back. We got to camp, but the next few days I was too sore 
all over to be guilty of moving unless it was a necessity. In action 
for ten days my bowels injured me. I was then full of quinine 
and the cold taken as above, seemed to all settle in my back in the 
lumbar vertebrae, etc., affecting the sciatic nerves especially 
severe. The next week after the injury I was taken as by "snap 
judgment' 1 with rheumatism, that seemed to draw me up into 
knots all over for some days, then settling down in my back so I 
could get no relief. I was then sent to Quincy (Illinois) Hospital, 
where I was treated a few weeks and then sent home on thirty days 
furlough. Could walk about a little with a cane, but suffered all 
the time. Then I had to return to St. Louis where the regiment 
had got to then. Here I was treated for a short time by the sur- 
geons at Benton barracks. As a last resort they put a very large 
blister poultice over my back, and as they did not tell me how long 
they wished me to keep it on, I kept it on all night and when they 

came around too look after us one of them said: "You d d 

fool, why didn't you take that off?" I answered " Because it did 
not hurt as bad as my back and I hoped it would do good, but it 
has not relieved the pain." None of them had ever seen or heard 
of such a blister before, so they said. They opened it and thought 
there was a quart of waste "aqua" come from it. After dressing 
it for a week, a board of doctors examined me carefully and ordered 
me discharged for disability, which I just now (1892) learn from 
official sources, they called "sciatica," which was the effect of the 
injured joint on the said sciatic nerve where it enters into the spinal 
cord. In this condition I arrived at home June 1, 1862. 

INVALID AT HOME. 

When I got home, could get about, by being careful, with one 
cane to steady me, but beside the steady pain in my back, the 
rheumatism ran over me until I had to use two canes, then crutches. 
Before spring I was taken down for several weeks with spinal and 
rheumatic fever; would get so I could go on crutches a spell, then 
was down the same way three long sieges that summer. I had a 
number of our best medical men to see, consult and treat me in all 
their various ways, but they could only change the conditions a 
little occasionally, with medicine internally, externally, and injected, 
cups and blisters. That continued for ten years, at intervals, no 
permanent good resulting, then I quit that medicine business. 
8 



114 SLAVERY AND WAR. 

After five years the rheumatism was not so bad, but my back 
worse. The first year the pain stayed at the joint injured, then it 
started up on the spinal cord or sheath of it, at the rate of six or 
seven inches a year, so that in about five years in all, it reached my 
brain. When at the base of it, and I standing in the door one day, 
it seemed to scatter into the brain with such a sudden shock that 
it felled me instantly; all my nerves seemed to be in a drawn unman- 
ageable condition, till relaxed by medicine, which caused relief 
from this feeling sooner, probably, than would otherwise have 
resulted,, and from that time on had more or less dizzy or giddy 
spells; at first they were very bad and came very often; a shock, a 
quick turn of the head, a cold, heat, anything disagreeable would 
bring them on, and still does occasionally. 

The first year a little hard bump of the size of a pea grew on the 
injured joint, and in the next four to five years it grew to the size 
of half a common peach seed, with not much change since. At 
the end of the seventh year the bones at that joint had so honey- 
combed, softened and wasted away that it mashed together and 
settled down on the outside; my backbone kinked inward, seeming 
to bind the spinal cord, making it nearly torture for me to walk 
with sticks or to sit up, but kept doing so a little; in about one 
year more it took another kink inward, having settled together 
more externally, since which time I have not been able to sit up a 
minute; moving would cause dizziness and pain. At the upper 
end of the lumbar vertebras the joint opened so that you could 
feel the spinal cord throb with your finger; since I got up my cot 
to suit my condition this is not so bad, and I can roll over sideways 
from my cot to my bed and back on the cot, evening and morning, 
if very careful, without pain, generally. 

I suffered more or less in my head from the start, but after five 
years when the disease reached my head, it was much worse; if I 
hurt my back the pain shot to my head, or if something occurred 
disagreeable to the mind it would go to my back, and from there to 
the head; aside from these features the pain was of a throbbing 
character, something like toothache in its various stages. 

When I got so I could not sit up any, I could not have a pillow 
under my head; it seemed to stretch the spinal cord and head must 
be lower than back, and could not lay on my sides a minute. This 
made it very disagreeable for me and friends that visited me to 
talk. They would say, "Oh, can't you have a pillow under your 
head," so sympathetically, that I would get my hands under my 
head and hold it up or over a little, and then back to relieve my 



SLAVERY AND WAR. 115 

back. But in the course of ? few months I did get a pillow under 
my head part of the time; that did not satisfy them any better 
than it did me. So between us we kept trying so that a few 
months later we got the second one under, but it was not long till 
my neck seemed to break or give way. That shocked me terribly, 
and inflamed my back and head, and my neck so bad that I dare 
not move it without paying too dear for it. But in a few weeks it 
got better, then I could hold my head up high, leaving a kink up in 
my neck, the cords having stretched or slipped out of place or 
both, so that I can get my head up in the world a little. 

In the winter of 1872-3, I think, friend Hallam brought Dr. 
Lockwood, of Ottumwa, to see me. He was one of what was 
then called "faith doctors," now "magnetic healers." I had 
no faith in it but he offered to treat me without "money or 
price," and thought it would do me no harm if not good. 
He rubbed his hands lightly over my head a half minute and 
relieved the severe pain then in it; then touched lightly down 
either side of the back bone for probably three minutes. It 
set every nerve all over me going like so many whip crackers. The 
sensation on my spinal cord and brain by that time was so great 
that my teeth were set, so that I could hardly tell him to desist. 
They went away saying he would be back in a month to see me, 
the whipping kept going some two to three hours, but my spinal 
cord was badly, if not dangerously inflamed for several days. 

It did not require faith to realize that. Faith that comes of ideal- 
ism with experience, is necessary to induce one to plow the ground 
and sow the seed, but it takes genuine work or some kind of power 
as;<a means to do it and bring forth results. In this case I knew 
there was a power, but whether it could be utilized in my case for 
good, did not know. When he came again, I inquired to know his 
theory; he had none; did not know what it was. He was a pious, 
reverential man and I think felt it was a direct interposition of God 
through him to afflicted man; I concluded that it probably was 
animal magnetism, that was then comparatively little known as to 
its power. He after learning how it affected me before was afraid 
to touch me, for fear it might kill me. He was then curing many 
kinds of cases. But I told him I would risk another trial as I could 
not last long the way I was suffering anyway, and would not 
blame him if he helped me through a little sooner. If he would 
rub my head and then down the back bone, and rub outward. My 
ideal was to get a circulation started away from the cord, if possi- 
ble. He did so, the whipping process went on as before, the head 



116 SLAVERY AND WAR. 

and back partly relieved, and soon pas began to ooze through the 
pores at the lower part of the backbone and inside to groins, that 
relieved me more than ever in all my affliction. What passed was 
strongly fetid and would seem to poison the surface quickly 
unless thoroughly cleansed. It has been of frequent occurrence 
since but not so rancid. Never yet broke only when small pieces 
of bone came out, after a sudden jar. Wet packs will relieve it 
more than anything yet found. 

My lower limbs have always since the injury had a tendency to 
paralysis, making them require a great deal of rubbing or attention; 
feet generally cold, but occasionally burn. The weather has always 
affected me more or less like neuralgia all over, especially in my 
jaws and face till my teeth all had to be taken out— and I am thank- 
ful for new ones. I hardly think they would have troubled me so 
much, only for the influence of the other conditions. The first few 
years of cold weather were favorable to me, but in the weakened con- 
dition of my nerves a cold spell of weather so electrified me, that 
it seemed I would burst; at least my nerves when they did break or 
2^ive way threw me into nervous spasms that would seem to go to 
my heart and stop it beating for an instant. They continued for 
about five months, when the worry, or effort, when being examined 
carefully by a doctor, threw me into a convulsion that ended the 
spasms, if it did not me. That was the first time my kidneys were 
implicated, but hemorrhoids has been the trouble at times. 

I have taken great care generally to live hygienical ly, not using 
tea, coffee or other unnecessary stimulants since I quit pills twenty 
years ago and used digestible food and friction, and have had gen- 
erally good digestion; weighed two hundred and fifty pounds the 
last few years; have always done my best to be pleasant, cheerlul 
and keep in the sunlight, and in all ways to keep a clear conscience 
and live honorably among men and before the Source of all good. 

Comrade A. W. Richards, of Indianola, who made an excellent record as 
a soldier, and who has suffered as severe pain and as great hardships from a 
wound received during the war as any man who was wounded during the 
contest, not having been able to walk a step or stand up for twenty-five 
years, has something to say in regard to the Iowa Soldiers' Monument in this 
issue of the Register. 

MY EMPLOYMENT. 

The query very naturally arises, "How have you managed to live 
and what have you done for this score of years?" The short answer 
would be, "Tough enough, and little." But as you are clever and 



FINANCES. 117 

curious enough to look into the matter, I will say in brief. The 
living for several years was on what I had, my credit and kindness 
of friends — I might mention some of them if others would not feel 
slighted — you may think it a pretty slim living, and not miss it 
much. But as before the war I had made a living and little more, 
and I was hopeful, yet with canes and crutches could do but little. 

The first year was one of nothing but suffering. Then I ^as a 
justice of the peace; that helped the matter for a few years. In 
the many small trials, and some large ones, I had a chance to study 
human nature and found that there were many weaknesses in it. 
but that people generally are not so bad at heart or depraved as 
they are frequently charged with. It may be true, as said, where 
there is smoke there is fire, but you must be sure it is smoke. My 
experience in the social and business world teaches me that 
reported smoke often turns out to be more " liar " than fire when it 
comes to be tested, as in one case that I know of; the publicly 
accused party caught his accuser in the very act of committing a 
theft, and sharply chided him for it, but did not make it public; 
then the thief in a short time publicly accused the man that chided 
him with the same crime; the accused part} 7 " demanded an investi- 
gation, and, of course, was cleared, but thought perhaps his 
motives would be called in question if he revealed all the facts in 
the case.* The accuser has gone down "to the dogs;" the accused 
up, so that no honest person will doubt a word or motive in his 
acts. But this is only one of thousands of such cases, and we 
should remember that such things will react. 

While acting as justice of the peace I did a small commission and 
confectionery business. During this time I was nominated for 
county judge, but as Webster and I did not always agree on orthog- 
raphy at that time, I declined. You know there are little fellows 
that do not know anything else, that we don't care to have barking 
at us; besides, what I was doing would pay about as well, with less 
labor. But I did not act wisely in declining, for it would have 
helped me in cultivating myself. After this I did something as a 
land agent, and traded a little in other things, until I got down to 
stay; all the time before had been up and down. 

FINANCES. 

As to pension, I did not apply until I found it to be a necessity. 
When I was examined, officially, more than a year after I came 
home, I had been unable to do anything, and had to move carefully 
on crutches, but did not whine about my condition; and when the 



118 FINANCES. 

claim was allowed I learned that I was rated at only two-thirds, 
when full pension then was only $8.00, thus I only got $5.33 per 
month for the first few years, but the pension bureau afterward 
increased it to $8.00, and this was all I got until about a year after 
I was down, helpless; then I got $15.00 a month for a year; then 
$25.00 for another year; then it was raised by per cent by Congress 
to $31.25; thus it stood till 1877, when it was increased to $50, and 
in 1880, to $72.00 — thank you. Only eleven of us in the family to 
provide for. There is not much hope of an increase of my pen- 
sion. 

When I first became helpless the query with me was: "What 
can I do, shut up in my room at home, possibly never more to go 
out into the live, busy world ?" That touched me in a tender place. 
I loved nature, and could scarcely bear the thought of not mingling 
with other men; never could before be satisfied to work alone; now 
to be shut up alone, nothing to do or hope for in the interest of my 
family. It seemed when I looked at that side of the question that 
I lacked backbone to stand it all, but having gone through the 
"flint mill" for the last eight years with even trouble needlessly 
and wrongfully added to the burden of my bodily affliction, deter- 
mined to live in hope if I died in despair. There have been insin- 
uations that I might do better, or that there was something wrong 
on my part, to put me on as low a plane as they were capable of 
dckig, and that by persons who made better pretensions, but some 
have had the manliness to correct them as far as possible. I am 
not of a disposition by nature to take such things seriously to 
heart, and only mention it now as a warning to others to never 
stoop so low, and be careful of insinuations, such as "they say so 
and so," as you may give another a bad reputation when his char- 
acter is above reproach; the matter will react on you in time, and 
probably in eternity on natural law principles. If the invalid can- 
not have kindness, sympathy and love, he certainly has not much 
outside capital to build up a cheerful dispositon on; harsh words 
and actions cause pain, and pleasant words and deeds are soothing 
to pain. With a clear conscience before God and man, I said to 
myself, I cannot better the condition of my family or myself by 
brooding over things of the past. 

Not being of the kind that are dying daily, in the course of two 
or three months adapted myself and feeling more to my condition 
— methinks I hear you say as others have said, tk I suppose you are 
used to it now." You may remember the story of the Dutchman 



INVENTIONS. 119 

training his horse little by little to learn to do without eating; that 
about the time he got used to it he died. 

The run of sympathetic visitors having abated, I took to reading 
when I could, more than I had ever had time to do before. I found 
it both pleasant and profitable in many ways; nature could do its 
part better. I studied history, the science of health, phrenology 
and psychology more or less all the years since. 

INVENTIONS. 

Necessity is rightly said to be the mother of invention. I loved 
the mechanical arts as I did natural philosophy; was generally able 
to adapt any piece of work to the necessities of the case. I had 
never made any special attempt at anything as an invention, only 
as a boy frequently does, begin at the big end of the undertaking. 
I, while a youth, had heard it said there was a fortune in store for 
the inventor of a perpetual motion contrivance. I studied the 
matter until I supposed in my verdancy I had it. It was a large 
wheel, similar to the hub and spokes of a wagon wheel, to run on 
a steel axle, the spokes or arms to be hollow, and have an elbow 
joint, with a closed hand at the end; a solid ball to roll to and fro 
in the arm, going out naturally as the arm straightens out full 
length, descending on one side of the wheel and dropping into the 
hand from the elbow as it raises on the other side, thus having the 
arms as close as may be to keep in perpetual motion. It 
would for a time if reasonably complete. But that is not per- 
petual, I learned; as long as one thing is influenced by another it 
is impossible to reach perfection in anything that leads to per- 
petual motion. You will never see it, so it is hardly worth while 
for you to attempt it, but there is still a wide field in possible 
things. Be sure to keep your physical forces all clear, so as to 
hold the balance in mind. 

My first patent was the perambulating cot, illustrated at the head 
of this chapter. It represents the first one ever made, with the writer 
on it. It is still a good one; but is heavier and stronger than is 
necessary. 

The one that I now use is all made of iron, except the cot frame, 
and rubber tire on the wheels, that prevents noise or concussion or 
vibration, from going through excellent steel springs to the body. 
There are knee and hip joints to the bed frame just to fit the person, 
the head and feet raised or lowered to suit any angle desired, by 
turning little crank that runs a screw. There is a convenience to 
release nature for the helpless. All the principles in this cot are 



120 DEDICATION OF THE COT. 

the same as the first one, though it does not appear one-eighth as 
heavy yet is abundantly strong for the largest man, and is made 
fancifully neat. 

Like many other inventors I have not made anything out of it, 
but wish the invalid world to have the benefit of it. If worthy, 
reliable parties will manufacture them all right, and cheap. In one 
sense they are cheap at any price. I would not take a thousand 
dollars in gold for mine if I could not get another. I have only 
had about half a dozen others made, for persons calling for 
them, though there are but few counties in the United States that do 
not need more than that number. They can be made so as to sell 
at from fifty to seventy- five dollars each, with carpet or cloth trim- 
mings. I say this much for the benefit of those afflicted and those 
in sympathy with them. I think those who have used them will 
say the same. One of them, Miss Jennie Smith, of Dayton, 
Ohio, the author of u The Yalley of Baca" and "From Baca to 
Beulah," having been helpless and a sufferer many years, who 
used the second one made, wrote me after using it long enough to 
thoroughly test it, as follows : 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. * * * My dear brother in 
Christ and in sympathy with affliction. * * * I waited to give my cot a 
complete trial. I would that I could find words, my dear brother, to express 
my appreciation of the cot. I am, indeed, happily disappointed, for it is far 
more complete than I expected it would be. It excels anything in comfort 
and ease that I have tried. It is really what my friends have been trying to 
provide, namely, "spring," for years. We use side boards — on the lower 
half, trimmed nicely — as I have to use bed clothes or blankets, which make 
it as warm as a bed. I can be taken out with so much ease. I am so anxious 
for you to get them manufactured as soon as possible, for I know they will 
be a blessing to thousands; it can be handled with so much ease. It is so 
much admired by every one. Nobody can find fault with it. 

She then spoke very kindly of the many interested in it; then of 

THE DEDICATION OF THE COT 

she says: 

Oh, how I wish you could have been here; your heart would have been 
cheered. It was a deep, sincere meeting— one long to be remembered with 
heartfelt interest. Rev. Dr. Pearn's prayers, as well as some others, for the 
inventor in his affliction, were, I felt, true prayers of faith, which I trust 
will be answered. 

She has since written : 

My cot does, indeed, grow better and better. 



DEDICATION OF THE COT. 121 

I have never seen Miss Smith, but those who have, speak of hej 
as u a very sweet-spirited, intelligent lady." I learn that she has 
traveled and preached considerable since getting the cot; also that 
through the benefits of receiving more of the electric currents and 
being treated magnetically she has got comparatively well, able to 
go about some. 

I got up an arrangement for a self propellor for the cot, but have 
never had any made yet; they would add a little to the weight and 
cost, and I think but few would need them. As the cot is I can 
put my hands on the wheels and move about easily. 

Among the many excellent certificates from good sources, I will 
add the following : 

Dr. Davis, of our city, late medical director of the southwestern 
division of the army, says : 

Having carefully examined Richards' Perambulating Cot, I can unhesi- 
tatingly say that it is the most perfect and complete structure ever invented 
for the surgery, and any person compelled to occupy a cot. The different 
angles and positions that can be effected in the bed surface of the cot, by the 
means of lever screws, making it an invaluable adjunct in the treatment of 
any and every form of disease, especially spinal. The surgeon can treat 
fractures without any fear of displacement if his patient occupies this cot, as 
any movement can be effected without change of position. I look upon this 
Perambulating cot as a very important and necessary article in almost every 
family. Its convenience in cases of sickness even of one person will doubly 
repay the cost of the cot. I would especially call the attention of hospital 
surgeons to this cot, as an excelsior in the management of all diseases pecu- 
liar to hospital practice. 

C. W. Davis, M. D. 

The following citizens of Des Moines, Iowa, say: 

I have examined A. W. Richards' Perambulating Cot, and consider it 
eminently suited for the purposes represented in his circular. In the treat- 
ment of spinal disease it possesses an advantage over all I have examined 
It does not heat the back — a very great desideratum. 

M. W. Thomas, M. D. 
I heartily endorse the above certificates. 

J. A. Blanchard, M. D. 

1 am personally acquainted with Mr. Richards and with the gentlemen 
signing the foregoing certificates, and have the utmost confidence in theii 
testimonials. 

John A. Kasson, Member of Congress. 

We have examined A. W. Richards' Perambulating Cot, and heartily 
concur in the above recommendations. 

N. B. Baker, Adjutant- General of Iowa. 

William D. Wilson. 

Samuel Merrill, ex- Governor of Iowa. 

The Industrial Monitor says: 



122 COMFORT FOR INVALIDS. 

COMFORT FOR INVALIDS. 

There are thousands of bed-ridden and house-imprisoned invalids who are 
suffering mentally as well as physically because they have nothing to divert 
them from brooding upon their misfortunes. The hope of moving about 
again to enjoy society, sunshine and fresh air has died within them, and 
melancholy becomes stereotyped in their faces to sadden all the loving ones 
who are compelled to witness such distress. Much of such sorrow and suf- 
fering can be relieved by means of the Perambulating Cot herewith illus- 
trated. 

Mr. Arthur W. Richards, of Indianola, Iowa, is a maimed Union soldier 
of the late^ war, compelled to remain in a recumbent position. His inventive 
talent inspired the hope of getting up a moveable cot by which his friends 
could move him about. This hope he has more than realized. He has the 
use of his arms and can move himself. He can visit his friends, attend 
church, and is apparently enjoying life as well as anybody. Without his 
perambulating cot he would be doomed to languish in confinement and 
despondency. 

And now, dear reader, if you know a fellow- sufferer who may be bene- 
fited by this invention, please show him the picture and set some plan to 
work to give him not only hope, but a cot that will diminish his sorrows and 
sufferings and improve his health and happiness. Mr. Richards has just 
been allowed a patent for a '• Well Cleaner," an excellent thing. 

The Science of Health, New York, illustrates and says: 

The accompanying illustration shows a device for an automatic cot. * 
* * What a blessing it would be if every invalid in this country could be 
supplied with one of these cots ! Simply thinking of this will show the 
urgent need there is for this invention. It would enable many a poor, suf- 
fering person to change his position and location without depending upon 
the assistance of others. An independent condition in itself is conducive to 
buoyancy of spirits. Buy no more drugs, but save your money and buy a 
perambulating cot. 

In concluding this section on my labor of love and culture, more 
than pecuniary profits, I may say that my mind has been more 
active than my body. My next patent was for a device for clean- 
ing wells without going into the well, called the Well Cleaner. I 
had a full sized one made and proved it practical, but have not dis- 
posed of it yet. The large bulb that works in the bottom of the 
well similar to a post augur but arranged to gather all the dirt, 
sticks, stones, or bore deeper, should be cast and maleable iron, 
which I have not yet arranged to be made, but when it is, a well 
can be cleaned, and with a hand broom in a socket can wash the 
wall, the water need not be taken out necessarily, but just as you 
like. It is easily worked by two ropes attached to a windlass 
geared so that one person can do it all easy and in a little bit, even 
take out the pump and put it in with it, and there certainly is noth- 



WHEN THEY WERE NEW. 123 

ing that is more necessary to be pure for health than water, unless 
it is your body and mind can't be. 

My next attempt was to get up a corn harvester. After several 
months of hard work I think I have got it drawn up on paper on 
principles that will work when manufactured, which I would like 
to make arrangements with responsible parties to do. It is reduced 
to the simplest principle that will work. The design is to clip the 
ear from the stalk as it stands high or low, or on either side, then 
it goes into an elevator, then husked or not in the process but 
saves the husks; takes two rows as fast as two or four horses will 
walk, one man to run it, and a small boy, if it is husked to stow 
the husks away. The same arrangement to crib the corn, or keep 
several other teams busy hauling it, but a common wagon will 
break the stalks down more, and hope it is as practical as my cot. 

"There are many people, not yet old, who can remember easily New 
Year's day fifty years ago. Great progress has been made since then. It 
was about that time that the spirit of discovery was so greatly quickened 
and the age of inventions set in. The first real success with the steam rail- 
road, the sewing machine and the electric telegraph come within this time. 
Friction matches were unknown prior to 1833, and New York was not 
lighted with gas until 1827. Daguerrotypes were not taken with any success 
until 1840, and photographs were not produced until some time later. 
Kerosene oil was first produced for general consumption in 1859. Tele- 
phones, electric lights and elevated railroads were unheard of even twenty 
years ago. These astonishing advances have only kept pace with the 
growth of the country and the increase of its business." 

WHEN THEY WEKE NEW. 
Pins made, 1450. 
Needles used, 1545. 
First cast-iron, 1544. 
Matches made, 1829. 
First newspaper, 1494.- 
Coal used as fuel, 1834. 
First gold coin, B. C. 206. 
Lead pencils used in 1594. 
First steam railroad, 1830. 
Window glass used in 694. 
Kerosene introduced, 1826. 
First postage stamps, 1840. 
Electric light invented, 1874. 
First insurance, marine, 533. 

First American express, 1821. ,, 

First wheeled carriages, 1659. 
First illuminating gas in 1792. 
Musical notes introduced, 1338. 
Iron found in America in 1815. 



124: IN BUSINESS. ....... 

Bible translated into Saxon, 637. 
Gunpowder used by Chinese, 80. 
Old Testament finished, B. C. 460. 
Bible translated into Gothic, 862. 
Photographs first produced, 1802. 
Paper made by Chinese, B. C. 220. 
Bible translated into English, 1524. 
Tobacco introduced into England, 1583. 

Another hobby I rode two years before it was accomplished was 
to get a public library and reading room in our goodly city. I pre- 
sented the" matter in writing to the city council in 1877, asking them 
to furnish a suitable room for their own use and that purpose, etc. 
In 1879, I found it was possible the council would do so and got a 
number of good men to agree to work for it and raise the money 
and they did it. 

IN BUSINESS. 

Before 1869 I had to lay at home a large part of the time, but 
after that date I was shut up there for eight years. My nerves 
became too sensitive to endure a noise or little jar. I had also read 
until everything had become stale. I secured me an office near the 
business part of town, where I have been located since 1877 with a 
son to care for me. The dear ones carried my meals to me two and 
one-half blocks away, where I have been trying to make my expen- 
ses as a pension, bounty and land agent; adding Phrenology and 
intelligence office business, under the motto: 

You have the intelligence, I the office; 
As others get yours, you get the profits. 

But still have time to write you, 
Of a number of things I know to be true. 
If it is of my business and things not new, 
Still you may a lesson learn, how to do. 

So as to avoid the things that are not best, 
Or you may learn that " Experience is a dear school." 

Then take knowledge and learn from the rest, 
And if successful in business people will not call you a fool. 

You need not expect to get knowledge or wealth in a day, 

Nor in a life time either, if you are a shirk. 
Such things come little by little, as natural fruits or pay, 

Through useful, well guided, work, work, work. 

My mother-in-law has kindly dedicated the following lines by 
Alice M. Ball to my condition, which is so true that I highly appre- 
ciate the source and words: 



PRESTON A. 125 

FOOT STEPS. 

Lost, the sound of footsteps — my own footsteps; just once more 

Do I long to hear the music of my feet upon the floor. 

Dream I of the days, now vanished, when my lips first learned to talk, 

Of the mother's love that fondly taught a little child to walk; 

In the silence that surrounds me, tired of silence, tired of pain, 

Do I long for hands to guide me, till I've learned to walk again. 

Lost, the sound of footsteps; how the days have come and gone, 
And my steps, forever silenced, make no echo in our home. 
Music floats about me, sweetly wafted on the air, 
And the hum of merry voices sound about me everywhere, 
While I fondly long for music that can be mine never more — 
Just the music of my footsteps — my own footsteps on the floor. 

Lost, the sound of footsteps; and I wait day after day,- 
In the midst of this long silence, where the Master bids me stay, 
And dream of spacious meadows, where my child feet used to roam; 
Of the footprints left so often on the graveled walks at home, 
Does the Father know how restless our weak human feet may grow, 
And guide them just as safely, when they lie in shadows so? 

Lost, the sound of footsteps; when the soul's work here is done, 

When the gates of heaven are opened, and our Father bids me come, 

From this silence so unbroken by the tread of human feet, 

Over where immortal footsteps echo on the golden street, 

Then, till then, dear Father, teach me, that through all these fearful depths, 

In the silence that surrounds me, Thou art guiding still my steps; 

And when life for me is over, even in heaven, may I once more 

Hear again the sound of footsteps; my own footsteps on the floor. 

PRESTON A. 

Our deep sorrow over the death by drowning of our first born 
will never be erased from memory, which occurred August 7, 1867, 
he would have been eight years old, September 25th following. 
He had a large, well organized brain, dark hair, light complexion, 
and developed finely in body and mind. Was a lovable, good 
boy to everybody. That made such little speeches as to make us 
proud of him. Such offspring makes a father feel like defending 
his country with double force, as I did feel when 1 would think of 
him while absent in such service. 

It occurred on this wise. He had a good, quiet, 'pretty pony 
that we called Fann}'. He hitched her to a light wagon with one 
furnished by a step-uncle, Wilber Bryant, then sixteen years old, 
to haul some light summer wood and chips from the timber two 
miles away, or for the play there was in it to them, as it was some- 
thing new. They went and got one load, Frank, his six year old 
brother with them. They were happier than the king on his throne 



126 PRESTON A. 

when they came to sit down to dinner and tell "ina" and "pa" 
about all the particulars, so they were cheerfully allowed to go in 
the afternoon again as Wilbur was a careful boy. 

But three hours later, two carriages and the wagon came full 
speed into town, right to me, with the dear drowned boy in their 
arms. I took him in mine. I could hardly believe it possible. 
We laid him on the counter and the driving and circum- 
stances attracted others. I think there were three to five doctors 
there in less than a minute, pumping him. They seemed to think 
at first that they were going to succeed; but no, it was too late. He 
was then taken home to his poor mother. How it broke up the deep 
fountains of the soul of all that could appreciate the loss and sur- 
prise. 

He went in swimming with some other boys, where the 
water was about waist deep to him. Some young men had just 
came there in carriages to work. The other boys dressed them- 
selves and noticed Preston's clothes laying there and called out to 
know where he was. One of the young men busy at the carriage, 
said a sensation ran through his mind that a few moments before 
he had heard a splash in the water, and looked round but could 
see nothing and went on at his work, but quick as thought he ran 
and jumped in where he thought it was and found him at the bot- 
tom. He said he thought he felt his heart beat once after he got 
him out. They shook and worked with him a minute, I suppose 
the best they knew what to do. They then jumped in their car- 
riages and drove with great speed to town as referred to. Son had 
run down a few steps farther than usual where there was a square 
offset of some three feet, that caused him to make the splash no 
doubt. The good people of the town seemed to feel it keenly as 
it was the first death from that cause in South river of any one liv- 
ing in town. He is buried in the north end of my lot, ]S r o. 1, in 
the first cemetery laid out by the I. O. O. F. (Allow me to say 
here that after Brother Mark's body had lain in the original old 
cemetery ten years, I had it moved to the south end of the same lot.) 

The lesson to be learned is, how to resuscitate a drowned person. 
I have seen accounts of persons being restored to life, one, I think, 
as late as an hour afterward, and many in less time after they were 
apparently dead. All accounts seem to agree that they should be 
laid on the stomach across something, face downward, and held in 
that position and pressed up and down quickly; the sides should 
also be pressed by having the body between the knees, and causing 
the lungs to work like a bellows, until the water is pumped out, 



WEDDING CELEBRATIONS. 127 

after which the body should be turned on its back and the operator 
get astride of it so as to press the lungs to and fro sideways and at 
the same time blowing into the mouth as strong as possible. An 
hour's work in this manner, or probably less, may restore life. I 
think ten minutes of such work would have saved my son when 
first taken out of the water. 

But he lived and died happy 

And has gone to a better clime. 
Where all are supposed to be good and happy, 

And we all hope to reach in good time. 

There living and growing forever 

We hope to see him a man ; 
There doing valiant service ever, 

Enjoying his mission as best he can. 
So we while living should be growing, 

Developing into true women and men, 
By doing good for ourselves and others, 

And all be as happy as we can. 

If we live right we are sure to die right; 

Though some mishap doth befall us, 
We shall hope for a remedy, believing it to be right 

In that grand, real clime beyond us. 

Where our fathers and mothers have gone, 

Of every age, country and clime; 
It is not important to what place, sphere or condition so happy, 

If the privilege of going higher and higher is theirs, it is yours and mine. 

MY SISTER'S WEDDING. 

My youngest sister Caroline held the more than jewel prize (her. 
self) so high that she did not marry until March 19, 1865, when 
Mr. Edward S. Silcott proved to be the lucky man. He was a 
native of Indiana and a widower with two good sons. He has a 
good home and farm close to our city and is a prudent, honest, 
worthy and respected citizen that cultivates his well developed 
mind. They are well matched and now have a large family doing 
well. I am just reminded that his family and ours have each had 
wedding celebrations recently. The following may be interesting to 
refer to. 

WEDDING CELEBRATIONS. 

First anniversary— iron. 
Third anniversary— wooden. 
Tenth anniversary — tin. 
Fifteenth anniversary— crystal. 
Twentieth anniversary— china. 



128 HORSE TRADING. 

Twenty-fifth anniversary — silver. 
Thirtieth anniversary— cotton. 
Thirty-fifth anniversary— linen. 
Fortieth anniversary — woolen. 
Forty-fifth anniversary— silk. 
Fiftieth anniversary— golden . 
Seventy-fifth anniversary— diamond. 

HORSE TRADING 

Watch the professional horse traders, 
Don't be too credulous with the deacon; 

They may appear well, still be traitors 
To your interest, if not to decency. 

The horse may look very fine, 
And they tell you he is no account. 

Then prove true as you would find 
They not telling the truth on your account. 

Horse trading like every other species of trade may be abused 
and frequently is, showing perverted human nature in one of its 
worst forms. A disposition to take advantage of the honest un- 
suspecting which can probably be done more often in horses than 
any thing else, because they are "Many Sided " in quality condi- 
tion and make up. Being one of the most useful of all animals in 
existence, yet they may have all manner of diseases or habits that 
affect their value or usefulness or safety, not perceivable to the 
verdant inexperienced person, often to the best posted. And a horse 
may quickley develop some of these qualities or condition in 
your hands that the previous owner had no knowledge of. Prob- 
ably never handled him as you do or cared for him in a different 
way, so we must have charity toward all that pretend to be honest 
for we all may be mistaken, but when we know there is actual fraud 
in such cases the criminal, for such he is, should be made to feel the 
weight of law and society as much as the forger, the thief; the hyp- 
ocrite that will cover up his crimes with the cloak of religion to get 
hold of other people's money, possesses the qualities of the other 
two classes if they do not his. In dealing with such men you will 
find it necessary to watch as well as pray, and whether you know 
them to be such, ''still watch;" An instance in my younger days will 
show. A citizen that led in church matters claiming the highest seat 
in the synagogue that I will call Mr. C. for short, was asked one 
day in my presence by a person that I will call Mr. A, a very un- 
certain kind of a trafficing man, if he could not borrow of Mr. C. 
ahorse to go some thirty miles. Mr. C. hesitated but said: I don't 
know but I could let you have my big sorrel." Mr. 0., then took 



HORSE TRADING. 129 

Mr.A. to one side and said to him, as I partly turned away not 
appearing to notice them. Yet I heard 0. say to A. in low but 
distinct words, "If you will be sure to trade him off to some of the 
many movers up on that road/' It made a shudder come over my 
nerves to think of the full meaning of it for we all knew the horse 
to be one of the worst balky horses in the vicinity, worth but lit- 
tle yet a fine looking large horse. In a minute I passed them; 
heard A. talking as if it was all right and would be done. In 
passing off a few feet C.'s back to me, he said as if a last charge 
"be sure and get away before he is hitched up." Just think of 
that kiud of a trick being practiced on a poor mover away from 
home and friends. A. was off immediately; C. a large austere 
man, and I only about half his age and hearing what I did, I hesi- 
tated about reproaching him with the crime at the time, and in a 
few minutes the man was off; I often reproach myself for letting 
the matter pass, but could never look at him as a man and certain- 
ly not as a Christian. His "honor' has not "panned out well" 
since, so "watch" especialy a man that has acquisitiveness out of 
proportion. But I must claim that I believe such base hypocrites 
are few and far between. But "watch" and let every one cultivate 
honor; for it will give you pleasure far above the mighty dollar, 
and then you can trade horses or any other property with your 
neighbor and many times both parties be mutually benefited. 

One of my ventures while doing a land agency business before 
I got down. I had some lots for sale belonging to a friend; a 
Texas man came along with a drove of nice ponies and half breeds, 
offered to trade them at very low price for town lots, I told 
my friend about it but he declined to take any ponies; but told me 
if I thought I could make anything in such a turn that he would 
sell me the lots cheap and let me pay him when I could; I finally 
did so; got a beautiful tall, well matched span of bays, and a good 
large iron gray mule; they put them in my barn as wild as the deer; 
too wild to eat when any one was in sight. I could feed them only by 
keeping out of their reach, as they were tied, and coaxed and petted 
till they would eat and drink, but no further; I was not able to do any 
thing with them and had failed to get any one to break them as 
I expected when I got them. After trying for some three months 
and could not sell or trade or get them broke, I began to think it 
was not so good a trade as I had expected, and was about to dispose 
of them at any terms. 

A Mr. H. moved in from the south part of the state, he came 
to my office a few days after and told me who he was and that he had 
9 



130 HORSE TRADING. 

lost his three horses, having hitched one to his wagon the others run 
loose in town; by some means the one tied had broke loose and 
they had all strayed off. He said he had hunted the country over; 
he seemed discouraged; I told him not to be, and recited to him my 
big horse hunt; recited in another part of this book. He said he had 
traveled a good deal and lost several horses before and never found 
one of them. I told him to go at it systematicaly and scour the 
country over and he might get trace of them as I had done. Said he, 
"What will you give me for the chance of them." I told him I 
would not know them if I should see them and thought if he would 
hunt he could find them some place certainly. He then described 
them to me and I remembered of having seen two of them hitched 
to a wagon at a short distance, on acount of their odd color, one a 
mouse color and the other a sorrel dun color. 

I told him then I was about as bad off as he was, that I had three 
which I could not do anything with, and described them. We 
talked a little of trade but neither knew what to do for the best. 
I still owed $125 on them, and told him that a bird in the hand 
was worth two in the bush, if I could not hold them. He went 
away and hunted several days, and sent a man to where he came 
from; got no trace of them. He then came to me to trade 
again. I told him if he would secure my debt on them or give me 
the mule back if I did not find any of them in a time specified, 
that I would trade mine for his, and run the risk. He suggested 
that I might find them afterward. I told him if I did I would 
return him the mule or the worth of him, or one of the other horses. 
And so we traded and drew up an article of agreement to that purport 
which was left in the hands of Mr. J. S. Jones. My former success 
in that line gave me hope and I thought I could not lose much, and 
if I found them I would make a good thing, and he was a big 
stout man that could break the wild ones if they could be. I then 
had the task before me. It was court week and many people from all 
directions, of whom I enquired before I would start off to where 
they had been raised, as I supposed they most likely had gone, 
some one probably leading to his locality. They had been gone 
then near two weeks. I heard of two trailers or descriptions that 
I thought possibly might be them; but poorly described. One in 
south part of the county, the other west; he seemed to think they 
could not be south, so I got a livery rig and went west. Soon 
found that horses of that description had been in a man's corn field, 
a few miles away that proved them to be the right description and 
I found them on the open prairie feeding. From all I could learn 



HAVE ANIMALS SOULS. 131 

of them they had gone south then west, probably not over eighteen 
to twenty-five miles and were coming back this way farther north, 
just roaming about. So that it was a lucky hit for me and Mr. H. 
handled his some and traded them to pretty good advantage, and 
the bays made a nice team; but do not think they were very safe. 
When I found mine they seemed to have started west again, so it 
was a venture that no one would be safe in imitating, but stick to 
your text when you lose or undertake anything. It pays in the 
outcome. 

The horse always has been my favorite. He seems occasionally 
to have as much good sense as some of the faster talking bipeds, 
and I think they can understand each other by their neigh. 

If you treat such a horse kindly he will reward you. Mutual 
love will become 1 strong. I will give you an instance under the 
next heading. 

HAVE ANIMALS SOULS? 
A MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR THINKS THEY ARE SO ENDOWED. 

From the Philadelphia Press. 

At the Church of the Holy Comforter in West Philadelphia, George W. 
Reed, a well-known member of the bar, delivered a lecture last night on the 
subject, " Have Animals Souls?" The speaker first considered a few of the 
arguments advanced by those who deny souls to animals and endeavor to 
refute them. He showed that some animals are erect in stature; some use 
weapons of defense; some have a lauguage; some teach their young; some 
can be taught to use fire, and he further claimed that they possess conscience, 
and that both animals and men have a common origin. In presenting the 
latter point the speaker spoke of the doctrine of evolution as one which 
" is almost universally accepted." Proceeding to the affirmative side of the 
question, Mr. Reed said all of the lower animals possess, in common with 
man, a religious sense, as far as worshiping a superior being is concerned; 
the moral sense, in so far as it involves honesty, sense of duty, trust, guilt 
or shame; concealment of crime and self-sacrifice; service to man in sup- 
porting man's life and begging; understanding man's language; use of 
money and knowledge of buying and selling; self-control; ideas of time, 
order and succession of events; use of man's food and utensils; politeness 
and gravity in man's company; human like action in the domestic service of 
man, such as the collection of fruits; attending fires, horses and cattle; 
caring for children; the use of shelter and bedding; the love of finery; 
laughter, kissing and caresses. The lower animals possess curiosity, obser- 
vation, investigation, reflection, judgment, memory, perseverance and 
imitation. Mr. Reed recited a number of anecdotes and made a long argu- 
ment to prove the possession of the above qualities by animals, and drew 
the conclusion "that it is not true that man and man alone has mind, has 
conscience, has ideas of God; that every faculty of the mind, even the 
highest, is not innate but is acquired and depends upon education." There- 



132 HORSE SENSE. 

fore, "there is nothing inherently impossible or even improbable in the 
lower animals possessing in common with men so many of the highest 
faculties of the intellect." He believed that some animals undoubtedly have 
conscience and can distinguish between right and wrong, and that they now 
stand on a higher plane, "than whole nations of men." In closing Mr. 
Reed said there was no warrant in Scripture for believing that the animals 
had no souls and were not immortal. 

WHY WE LOVE HORSES. 

The mouse colored horse that I had called "Charley," though 
young, seemed to be a safe, steady buggy horse for me. One day 
I took two men a few miles out to a farm I was selling* them. We 
hitched the horse to the fence and went up over a rise in the edge 
of the field, just a little out of sight. We staid some time. 
When we returned in sight of where we hitched him he 
was gone, but we could see him half a mile off walking 
leisurely toward home. I could not hope to catch him, so 
one of the men started after him on "double quick" lime, 
hoping to save the buggy. I concluded that as I had a rather 
uncommonly strong, clear voice, I would call him by name. 
I did so and you may judge of our pleasant surprise to see 
him stop and listen. Then I called again with full heart, and 
he deliberately turned the buggy around, without cramping it, and 
took a look at us. I called again. He started and walked deliber- 
ately back to the fence where we waited for him, with our hearts 
all swelling with love. One of the men, a doctor of the State of 
New York, said that if he had him at home no money could buy 
him. It seemed to me too much like selling a child when I had to 
do so. Among the thirty odd horses I have had I have found but 
few his equal, but many of them extra good sense. The thousand 
dollar Hambletonian colt we had at one time, Black Foot, was the 
equal of the best I ever saw; would catch a pig by the ear and hold 
it; then laugh at many funny things. He hardly needed training 
to do many amusing things. One was when a hog would rub 
against the fence and get its ear through the crack in the barn lot, 
the horse would catch it in his mouth, and hold it fast, and hear it 
squeal, and seemed to enjoy it beyond measure. Also to see peo- 
ple run to the noise and they laugh at his antics so heartily; they 
could scarcely ask the horse to let go. But when they did he 
would bounce like a rubber ball all over the lot and squeal for vent 
to his fun. 

Would common sense teach you there is no hereafter for such 
noble, loving, thoughtful beings; would you not feci that it would 



ARE ANIMALS rMMORTAL. 133 

be slightly monotenous to go to a realm or place where none of your 
pets were ever seen. How would you feel shut up in heavenly 
golden palaces with your pick of bipeds only. 

In the M. E. Quarterly Review, page 429, of 1876, Eev. Able 
Stevens, LL.D., of Geneva, Switzerland, in speaking of the extra- 
ordinary character of Mary Somerville, he says, "With Wesley, 
Sweedenburg and many other large hearted men, she believed in a 
future and compensative life for the brute creation." The creature 
now made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him 
who had subjected the same in Hope, etc., and so said Agusious. 

Would you not feel better now to hope with Helen Baron Bost- 
wick in the following lines, that you and I may meet again, where 
we are not cripples. 

DO TOTJ KNOW. 

When a human being dies, 
Seeming scarce so good and wise, 
Scarce so high in scale of mind 
As the horse he leaves behind. 
11 Lo," we cry, " the fleeting spirit 
Doth a newer garb inherit; 
Through eternity doth soar, 
Growing, greatening, evermore." 

But our beautiful dumb creatures 
Yield their gentle, generous natures, 
With their mute, appealing eyes, 
Haunted by earth's mysteries, 
Wistfully upon us cast, 
Loving, trusting to the last; 
And we arrogantly say, 
"They have had their little day; 
Nothing of them but was clay." 

Has all perished ? Was no mind 
In that graceful form enshrined? 
Can the love that filled those eyes 
With most eloquent replies, 
When the glossy head, close pressing, 
Grateful meet your hand caressing; 
Can the mute intelligence, 
Baffling oft our human sence 
AVith strange wisdom, — buried be 
" Under the wild cherry tree?" 
Are these elements that can spring 
In a daisy's blossoming? 
Or in long dark grasses wave 
Plume-like o'er your favorite's grave? 
Can they live in us and fade 
In all else that God has made? 



134 MORGAN. 

Is there aught of harm, believing 
That, some newer form receiving, 
They may find a wider sphere, 
Live a larger life than here? 
That the meek, appealing eyes, 
Haunted by strange mysteries, 
Find a more extended field, 
To new destines unsealed ; 
Or that in the ripened prime 
Of some far off summer time, 
Ranging that unknown domain, 
We may find our pets again ? 

A MYSTERY EXPLAINED. 

THURLOW WEED GIVES THE TRUE STORY OP MORGAN'S DEATH FOR EXPOS- 
ING MASONRY, AS TOLD niM BY ONE OP THE PARTICIPANTS IN 
THE AFFAIR — HAS IT ANY BEARING ON THE MT. 
PLEASANT ASSASSINATION? 
Special Dispatch to the Chicago Tribune. 

Philadelphia, March 6 — Thurlow Weed was asked by a special corres- 
pondent of the Press yesterday concerning the recent murder of a son of 
Judge James Gillis, of this State, in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, last week, pre- 
sumably on account of the death of Morgan during the anti-Masonic excite- 
ment. "I was sorry to hear of the trouble Judge Gillis is having in his old 
age," said Mr. Weed. "I knew him very well, and he was a very worthy 
man, as were all those engaged in the persecution of Morgan. It becomes a 
political issue, without any intention on the part of the anti-Masons, and the 
latter become a strong party. Judge Gillis was not tried for the murder, 
but for abducting Morgan. The facts in the case were about these: Morgan 
was a drunken stone mason and a member of the Order of Free Masons. 
With the help of a country printer he printed an expose of the first three 
degrees of Masonry, and was about exposing the Royal Arch degree when 
the Masons determined to put a stop to it. Morgan had come to me — I was 
in the newspaper business in Rochester at the time — to print his book, but 
he wanted me to take an oath of secresy before I began the work, and I 
would not do so. The Masons had Morgan arrested on a trumped up charge 
of petit larceny and lodged in jail. They then made arrangements to carry 
him off. A party of them, including Gillis, Nicholas, G. Cheeseborough — 
whose daughter called on me not an hour ago — and James Whitney, and 
others, went to the jail, and after considerable parleying with the jailer's 
wife, they prevailed on her to give Morgan up. The idea of the Masons was 
simply to get Morgan away from the bad company he was in, in which case 
the Masons believed he would give up his design of exposing the secrets of 
the Order. They proposed to buy him a farm in Canada and turn him from 
his evil ways generally. The plan was now changed to provide for Morgan 
by sending him away from civilization in the employ of the Northwestern 
Fur Company. There were several meetings of the lodge and chapter of 
Niagara on the subject, but many Masons refused to have anything to do 
with the scheme. Then the matter became imperative. Something had to 
be done, and at one**- 




MILLIE and CHRISTINE. 

Who created us? 



TWO HEADS. 135 

It was found to be dangerous to recede or go on. After Morgan had been 
a prisoner in the magazine for three or four days there was a large meeting 
of Masons to install an encampment in a Canadian town near by. Promi- 
nent men were present, including members of the New York Legislature, 
and the evening ended with a grand supper, at which excited speeches were 
made by several prominent members of the Order in the case of Morgan. 
At last the Chaplain was called on for a toast, and he gave the following: 
'The enemies of our Order — may they find a grave six feet deep, six feet 
long, and six feet due east and west.' This contained a hidden significance, 
and Col. King, who was at the table, called four gentlemen outside, and, a 
carriage being called, they were driven to Fort Niagara, where they arrived 
at 4 o'clock in the morning. Morgan was called up, and was told that they 
had made arrangements for his welfare, bought him a farm, etc. He went 
with them, and they took a boat and rowed out four miles into Lake Ontario. 
Here they wound a rope loaded with sinkers around Morgan and threw him 
overboard. A man at the fort, whom I afterward looked up in a moment, 
saw the boat leave with with six men and return with but five. Of course 
all these facts were denied, and the world said that the committee that in- 
vestigated the matters were politicians and were moved by interests other 
than those of discovering the truth. 

"Just as I was leaving Chicago at the close of the proceedings of the Con- 
vention which nominated Mr. Lincoln, I was mortified and even much dis- 
gusted at the defeat of Mr. Seward, and was sending my baggage to the 
depot. Col. John Whitney, one of the five men who took Morgan out in the 
boat, came to me and said, 4 I want to swear to what I have told you about 
the Morgan matter, and if you survive me I want you to publish it.' I 
promised to write out the statement, which contained substantially the facts 
I have given you, and intended to do so, but the campaign came on, the war 
broke out, and I was sent to Europe by Mr. Lincoln, and I neglected it. 
While in London I wrote to Whitney asking him to go to E. B. Williams 
and let him write the statement. When I got back home that letter was 
returned to me from the dead-letter office, and Whitney had died a week 
before it should have reached him. I was always sorry that I did not write 
out the statement in Chicago." 

A WONDERFUL FREAK OF NATURE. 

.Millie Christine or Christine Millie, born July 11, 1851, of 
mulatto parents, owned by A. McCoy, Whiteville, Columbus 
county, North Carolina. Two persons above the waist and only 
one below, except the four limbs, otherwise natural. My wife 
examined them. I enjoyed their bright, cultured, intelligent, con- 
versation; also their singing — in two parts, and dancing. They 
can do many kinds of work and make their own clothes. They 
have made money by exhibition and purchased the home planta- 
tion for their parents. They are free and happy — the great wonder 
of the world, and models of health. 



CHAPTER YI. 

HEALTH. 

BETTER THAN GOLD. 

Better than grandeur, better than gold, 
Than rank and title a thousand fold, 
Is a healthy body, a mind at ease, 
And simple' pleasures that always please; 
A heart that can feel for a neighbor's woe 
And share his joys with a genial glow, 
"With sympathies large enough to enfold 
All men as brothers, is better than gold. 

Better than gold is a conscience clear, 
Though toiling for bread in an humble sphere; 
Doubly blest with content and health, 
Untried by the lust of cares or wealth. 
Lowly living and lofty thought 
Adorn and enoble a poor man's lot; 
For man and morals, or Natures's plan, 
Are the genuine test of a gentleman. 

Better than gold is the sweet repose 

Of the sons of toil when their labors close; 

Better than gold is the poor man's Sleep, 

And the balm that drops on his slumbers deep, 

Bring sleeping draughts to the downy bed, 

Where luxury pillows his aching head; 

His simpler opiate labor deems 

A shorter road to the land of dreams. 

Better than gold is a thinking mind 
That in the realm of books can And 
A treasure surpassing Australian ore, 
And live with the great and good of yore. 
The sage's lore and the poet's lay, 1 

The glories of empires past away; 
The world's great drama will thus enfold 
And yield a pleasure better than gold. 

Better than gold is a peaceful home, 
Where all the fireside charities come; 
The shriue of love the heaven of life, 
Hallowed by mother, or sister, or wife. 
However humble the home may be, 
Or tried by sorrow with Heaven's decree, 
The blessings that never were bought or sold, 
And center there, are better than gold. 



On this all-important subject you will please allow me to take a 
text, not because I have a special license, but from an inalienable 
right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for you and I, 



HEALTH. 137 

and because half a century 's experience and some practice is worth 
something, hoping for the good time set forth in this remarkable 
prediction in the sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah to come quickly: 

" I will create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be 
remembered nor come to mind. And the voice of weeping shall no more 
be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more, thence an 
infant of days. Nor an old man that hath not filled his days, for the child 
shall die an hundred years old. And they shall build houses and inhabit 
them, and plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build 
and another inhabit, they shall not plant and others eat. For as the days of 
a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work 
of their hands. They shall not labor in vain nor bring forth in trouble." 

If we cannot hope to see the full fruits of such a creation in 
health reform, can't we each do our part in bringing it about, and 
give it as an inheritance to our children's children in some future 
generation. Health is essential to long life, success and happi- 
ness. 

It should be the natural condition of every child. But if you 
examine the minutes you will agree with me that a large propor- 
tion of them are not in that condition. 



Many of them a burden to themselves and society, if not called 
that on the parents. Why is this? Is it not because the parents 
or their progenitors, some, or all of them have "eaten sour grapes 
and set their children's teeth on edge," or, in other words, unphy 
siological violations of natural law. Here is one kind of the sins 
of the parents that are "visited on the children, even to the third 
and fourth generations;" yes, far more frequently. Yet, occasi- 
onally we find persons that dispute the law of hereditary trans- 
mission. Here is evidence in one case: A late annual report of 
the New York Prison Association contains a frightful history of 
one of many families in this state whose vices have been, and still 
are, poisoning the life-blood of descendants through successive 
generations. 

In examinations of county jails the past year, Mr. R. L. Dugdale, 
an officer of the Prison Association, came upon one, in which were 
found six prisoners, under four family names, all blood relations, 
and belonging to a lineage that traced back to early colonial times. 
These families had lived in the same locality for generations, and 
were universally odious and dreaded, the reason for which was soon 
manifest in the ascertained fact that, out of twenty-nine adult males, 



138 HEALTH. 

near relations of the above six persons, seventeen — or more than 
half — were convicted criminals. 

These significent facts put Mr. Dugdale upon continuous and 
careful inquiry. Aided by two life-long physicians of the count}^ 
the subjoined history was brought to light. 

The first generation of the family found in jail — known and 
named — was a man born about the year 1725. He is described as 
having been a hunter and fisher; a hard drinker, who became 
blind in after life, entailing his blindness upon children and grand 
children. v He had a numerous family, some of them illegitimate. 

Two of his sons married into a family of five sisters, who were 
born between the years of 1740 and 1770. Three of these were 
harlots before their marriage; and of one other it is recorded that 
her husband was a thief. The progeny of these sons and sisters is 
traced with more or less exactness through five succeeding genera- 
tions, giving the number of descendants registered as 540, w T ho 
were directly related by blood, and 169 related by marriage or 
cohabitation; in all, 709 persons, alive or dead. The total number 
of this lineage is believed to reach 1,200; but dissensions which 
have occurred at different times prevent following out some of the 
lateral branches. 

Of the families of these two sons of the old, hard-drinking and 
lecherous hunter, and the group of sisters into which they married, 
to and including the sixth generation, this is the record: Prosti- 
tutes, 74; cases of constitutional syphilis, 67; number of children 
dying at two years, about 300; paupers, 209; justly accused of 
crime, number unknown; convicted criminals, 76; cost of last gen- 
eration to the county, at least $50,000. 

And with this last generation the race of direct descendants 
seems likely to perish, notwithstanding the infusion of purer blood 
through frequent union with stranger families. Not one marriage 
or birth is recorded or known in the sixth generation. They 
appear to have rotted out of life. 

Is it not time we should be wide awake and put vigorous, strong 
men in our offices and as legislators to deal with the all devouring 
hells that make drunken debauches; that transmit to posterity the 
conditions to disgrace their name with suffering prostitution and 
whiskey pauperage. 

As long as you follow unhygienic habits' you cannot hope for 
health or happiness for your offspring and there is many other 
things used by people that make pretentions to good habits, that 
seriously injures in this way, as will be shown further on. Follow 



HEALTH. 139 

the directions for fifty years and then if they do not prove all right, 
call and tell me. 

THE CHILDREN. 

The care of infants is the important task of mothers. The first 
nourishment is natural, if not, have it as near as possible. The 
next important thing is to be warmly and loosely dressed, no tight 
bandages about them. Keep the arms and lower limbs warm by 
all means. Then let them have plenty of fresh air, not a draft, 
and sunshine every day. If you love them don't give them any 
medicine, it is not a natural want or a necessity but give them a 
daily cleansing all over. If feverish from any cause, bathe them 
thoroughly and often as it occurs, rubbing with the hand from head 
to foot, pleasantly for several minutes after the bath. If in pain, 
place warm clothes on the part or your hand rubbing the part. If 
sick at the stomach, a little drink of warm water may rinse it out. 

If there is trouble in the bowels as pain, warm injection. If 
diarrhoea, tepid water and correct the diet that brought on the trouble 
in yourself or the child. When its teeth appear do not blame all 
your mismanagement in feeding and clothing the child to the little 
irritation caused by the "tiny tooth." In hot weather all is relaxed; 
then be very careful to give it no pie, cake or sweet meats as food. 
Many heads of families geem to think it would not be ''respectable" 
to feed the little ones on plain healthy food, but that class is more 
''genteel" than wise, but prefer showing their weakness. They 
patronize the doctor and drug store whether they ever pay the bill 
or not, while those that have moral courage to do right, can raise 
their children without. 

WHAT CHILDREN EAT. 

Among the nobility of the three kingdoms, says the Science of 
Health, children are brought up on plain and wholesome food, as 
many American citizens would not allow on their tables. Infants 
and young children of the families of the aristocracy -and wealthy 
manufacturing and commercial classes of Great Britain and Ireland 
are seldom, or never, allowed to eat flesh in any form. They are chiefly 
fed upon farinaceous food and milk; oat meal porridge, mush and 
milk, potatoes and milk, form the principal food for children among 
the rich and "upper ten thousands" of England, Ireland and Scot- 
land. This is one of the most necessary reforms demanded in the 
rearing of children in this country. Plain, wholesome food ought 
to take the place of beef, pork, sausage, pies and pastry as food for 



140 HEALTH. 

infants. By adopting simple and nutritious food for children the 
mortality among those under five years of age might be immediately 
reduced fifty per cent. With the drug store treatment it is onty 
with sheer bodily strength and vigor of the ''fittest" that enables 
infants so treated to struggle through the youthful years and then, 
if they can get out in the sunshine and play a little they may get 
rid of the drugs; but the mortality is fearful. Let every one flee 
from "the wrath to come" in that direction. The mother should 
always see to the food part. No difference how much anxiety the 
father may feel on the subject, if there is not faithful harmony 
between them on that point, it is likely to be a failure. In sickness 
they can either take the care, or both better. 

Long experience in nursing, and familiarity with medical books 
and the practice, and prescribing while associated in office or busi- 
ness, would enable me to relate many instances that would sus- 
tain my conclusions, and teachings. If you will not care for your 
children yourselves, nor get a nurse with a little practical knowl- 
edge, and must call a doctor, call one that has got out of the "fog" 
enough that he gives no medicine, or if any, in homoepathic doses. 
I will give just a few instances that will indicate my reasons. 

' ' MUST HAVE MEDICINE. " 

Dr. R. L. Harlow recently read a paper before the Androscoggen 
Medical Association in which he justly denounces a poisonious 
mixture known as Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup that has not 
only killed its thousands, but is spoiling the health of a vastly 
larger proportion of the helpless little infants. He states that "the 
amount sold yearly contains over 15,000,000 grains of morphia, 
which amount is administered to infants without professional ad- 
vice." It will ease pain for the time, but if it does not soon kill 
them, they will be left in a debilitated condition that only continues 
their suffering and your trouble four fold; nature's action being im- 
peded they frequently break out with sores or running at the ears, 
etc., and youwill have medicine, will you; and will not even take 
medical advice when they say you had better not. An incident in 
point: The teacher of most of the doctors in our place told me 
he was called to a certain place to see a child. He examined it care- 
fully and could not tell what was the matter, and hence did not know 
what to prescribe and so directed the lady to bathe it and give it some 
teas that he thought perhaps it would soon get better. The lady 
flew into a passion and said: "Are you not going to give it any 
medicine?" The doctor said "he did not think best to do so, 



HEALTH. 141 

then." " Well," says she, "If you don't give it something I will 
get somebody that will." He stepped out. She sent for an old 
whiskey doctor that never fails to give or take stimulants. You 
may judge the rest. So the first doctor said tome: " "We might 
as well give it as anybody, as long as the people won't learn that 
it is better to do without it, and we have to follow the books to 
clear our skirts of the law, but your way is the natural common 
sense way of treating diseases." 

One of the many instances that will show the danger of having 
medicine in the house is shown by the following: A family living 
a short distance from me had a nice pair of twins, sixteen months 
old, plump and hearty. One was a boy and the other a girl and 
the two loved each other very much. At the time referred to they all 
went to bed as well as usual. In the night one of the twins waked 
the parents up by crying, with what they supposed to be the colic. 
At that time the father, a large, stout man, was in the habit of using 
liquors and would get out of fix so much that he kept morphine 
powders for his case. They concluded to give the child a small 
portion of one of his doses. After doing so the child soon got 
easy and they went to bed and went to sleep as usual. JSIear morn- 
ing they discovered that it was not breathing naturally, so they sent 
for a doctor and others. With all their skill combined they could 
not revive it and it breathed its last at noon following. 

You may do the same. But what must have been the feelings 
of those parents and of the dear little twin living when it cried for its 
mate and would not be comforted, or when it was taken to its com- 
panion to kiss the little one's cold face? It shrunk back and 
motioned for others to lift up the poor, dead mate. 

THE TWINS. 

Yes, there they lie— so small— so quaint — 
Two mouths, two noses and two chins; 

What painter shall we get to paint 
And glorify the twins ? 

To give us all the charm that dwells 

In tiny cloaks and coral bells, 

And all those other pleasants 

Of babyhood, and not forget 

The silver mug for either pet- 
No babe should be without it? 

Come, fairy limner ! you can thrill 

Our hearts with pink and daffodil, 

And white rosette, and dimpled frill ; 

Come paint our little Jack and Jill, 
And don't be long about ! 

— Frederick Locker. 



142 THE DOCTOR'S CHILD. 

Most of cases linger longer and suffer more. They generally do 
when the doctors do the prescribing. But that won't clear your 
skirts when you meet the patient in future life, if it does here. 



Another instance: a doctor's wife and child were visiting our 
place, the child was taken with inflammation of the stomach, and 
another doctor was 3entfor and then the father of the child. They 
went by their books, no doubt. At the same time my Sim was 
taken exactly the same way. They were both plump, fat, nice 
children of the same size; the doctor's was a girl. An intelligent 
lady that was staying at the house across the street from my house 
where the other child was, was over frequently to see my patient, 
and declared at first for two days that mine was the worst case and 
would be sure to die if I did not get medicine for it. I told her 
she would see in three days what the difference in treatment would 
result in, if they kept using morphine to ease their patient then 
quinine or a tonic to tone it up, and while I used hot packs on the 
stomach and bathed all over frequently, and rubbed the stomach 
from the left to the right side occasionally as the child could bear 
it, thus aiding nature to do what it was trying so hard to do that 
caused the terrible pain. We thus in so extreme a case, with 
water and rubbing him from head to foot as he could stand it, or 
add to his comfort for three days, brought him out as clear as a 
whistle. Of course it took him a few days to recruit up, but there 
was a sorrowful funeral over the way in a few days. One of the 
doctors called to inquire of me the modus operandi of my treatment 
in the case and eulogized me, but they had to go according to the 
law of the profession he said. 

Bilious fever, or what is generally known by that name, was 
quite prevalent a few years ago in this locality. One of the worst 
forms of it, because effecting the lungs, occurred in my family, 
accompanied with strong symptoms of spinal meningitis. My son, 
Johnny was taken very bad in that way. I sent word a day or 
two before to a certain doctor to call, when convenient, to see 
about a business matter. He happened to call the morning the 
boy was taken down and I had him on the bed with me where I 
could see to him, and he looked like such a " bilious case" that the 
doctor apologized for not calling earlier and went on to make a 
diagnosis of the case, I not saying anything but what that was 
what it was for till I would see what he would make the case out 
to be. He drew out his medicine case to prescribe when I said to 



THE DOCTOR'S CHILD. 143 

him: " Doctor, I don't wish to give him any medicine." The 
doctor was surprised and sat down, wanted to know what I was 
going to do. I told him that when the fever got up to about as 
high a pitch as it would be likely to I would wrap him up in a wet 
sheet pack with a blanket and two or three comforters around 
him, then let him soak from a half to one hour; that after he was in 
it a little while he would get more quiet; toward the last he would 
become more restless, on account of the pores opening, and the 
bilious poison coming forth, probably to the extent of staining the 
sheet. When he becomes quite restless I would remove the 
clothes a little at a time and wash him with water, about the temper- 
ature of the room thoroughly from head to foot and then give him 
a thorough hand rubbing, the same way; that in this case it would 
probably last three days; if so I would repeat it each day till it give 
way entirely, then just rub with hand magnetizing the nerve 
forces and so build it up. Said he: "Your pluck," I guess it will 
do. If you don't succeed send for me. Then I had to stop him 
to tell him my business. Send for me if you need me — I 
guess you won't, good-bye," said he, with hearty good cheer, "that 
ain't our practice." I proceeded at once to carry out the above in- 
dicated program — as I would do in any kind of fever — only the 
process should be shorter in persons that are not strong and more 
hand rubbing in proportion — as this bilious fever is the most stub- 
born. It took three days in this case. But the morning of the 
fourth he wanted to sit up and the longer he sat up the better he 
felt. In the afternoon he asked if he might go over to Georgie 
Haskels, a half square away. We finally consented to it, as they 
were great cronies, if he would stay in the house, as it would cheer 
up the spirits and help him to overcome any stagnated condition of 
the bowels. He went, but along in the evening about the time 
we expected him home, his Ma was standing in the door when she 
heard some bo^ys passing saying something, about what Johnny was 
doing. She asked what Johnny — mother like — they said: " Your 
Johnny." "Why, where is he?" said she. "Down at the South 
part of town at the branch," said the} r . We sent for him. He 
had had a splendid time, was wet up to his knees. This was a 
beautiful day in March and the snow melting had made the branch 
high and of course boys could have lots of fun. We put on dry 
clothes, soaked his feet in warm water, rubbed them good and put 
him to bed. The next morning he was all right as he has been 
since. If he had taken a nine days to three weeks course of medi- 
eicine as is common, what would have been the result of such a 



144 ARTIFICIAL CHILD INCUBATION. 

play ? You will say a relapse, of course. What is the result of 
such relapses generally ? 

What would have been the result on your — pocket— and general 
health after sitting up three or six weeks ? If the patient survived 
would he ever be entirely free from the results ? 

We have treated nearly every shade of fever, aches and pains, 
even to measels and whooping cough, combining on the same prin- 
ciples with perfect success. Care must always be taken to prevent 
taking cold. If you must go out let the last bath be cold and rub 
bing be free. 

When I speak of "we" doing so and so with the children, you 
may take it for granted, so far as the work part, that it was my 
wife that "killed the bear," if I did help skin it. For you know I 
"lack the backbone," I am sorry to say. You may be well 
developed physically in that way but it is moral backbone that is 
needed, if you are to do your duty in these matters as well others. 

ARTIFICIAL CHILD INCUBATION. 

The report of some remarkable experiments in so-called artificial child incu- 
bation comes from France. The Glasgow Mail says that the immense success 
which has attended the artificial incubation of chickens in France recently, 
attracted the attention of Dr. Tavenier, a learned and ingenious physician. 
He was attached to a hospital for foundlings, and was annoyed at the large 
number of foundlings who died within the first six months of their life. The 
majority of those admitted to the hospital were weak and sickly, and he re- 
solved to try what "artificial incubation" would accomplish if applied to in- 
fants. The doctor constructed a child incubator on precisely the same 
model of the chicken incubator. It was a box covered with a glass slide r 
furnished with a soft woolen bed, and kept at the temperature of eighty-six 
degrees, Fahrenheit, by the aid. of hot water. He selected as the subject of 
his first experiment a miserably-made infant, one that had come into the 
world at an injudiciously early period. The infant was placed, in the incu- 
bator, provided with a nursing bottle, and kept in a dark room. To the 
surprise of the doctor, it ceased to cry on the second day after it was placed 
in the incubator, and although it had previously been a preternaturally 
sleepless child, it sank into a deep and quiet sleep. The child remained in 
the incubator for about eight weeks, during which time it never once cried, 
and never remained awake except when taking nourishment, it grew rap- 
idly, and when, at the expiration of sixty days, it was removed from the in- 
cubator, it presented the appearance of a healthy iniant at least a year old. 
Delighted with the success of the experiment, Dr. Travenier next selected an 
ordinary six months old infant addicted to the usual pains and colic, and 
exhibiting the usual fretf ulness of French infants. This child conducted 
itself while in the incubator precisely as its predecessor had done. It never 
cried, it spent its whole time in sleep, and it grew as if it had made up its 
mind to embrace the career of a professional giant. After six weeks' stay 



THE MEDICINE MAN. 145 

in the incubator it was removed and weighed; during this brief period it had 
doubled its weight. It had become so strong and healthy that it resembled 
a child three years old, and it could actually walk when holding on to a 
convenient piece of furniture. These two experiments satisfied Dr. Trave- 
nier of the vast advantages of artificial child incubation. He immediately 
proceeded, with the permission of the authorities of the hospital, to con- 
struct an incubator of the capacity of four hundred infants, and in this 
he placed every one of the three hundred and sixty infants who were in the 
hospital on the tenth day of February last. With the exception of one who 
died of congential hydrocephalus, and another who was claimed by its re- 
pentant parents, the infants were kept in the incubator six months, when 
they were removed in consequence of having outgrown their narrow beds. 
The result will seem almost incredible to persons who are unfamiliar with 
the reputation of Dr. Travenier, and have not seen the report made to the 
French government on the subject by a select committee of twelve. The 
average age of the infants last February was eight months and three days — 
the youngest being less than twelve hours old and the eldest not more than 
eleven months. Their average weight was sixteen pounds, only one of the 
entire three hundred and sixty having attained a weight of thirty-two 
pounds. At the end of six months artificial incubation the average weight 
of each infant was twenty-four pounds, and there was not one who would 
not have been supposed by a casual observer to beat least three years 
old. In other words, six months of incubation did as much in the way of 
developing Dr. Traveniers fondlings as three years of ordinary life would 
have done. The infants were strong and healthy as well as big; they walked 
within a week of leaving the incubator, and most of them have since learned 
to talk. These results surpassed Dr. Tavernier's most enthusiastic expecta- 
tions, and there can be no doubt that this system of artificial child incuba- 
tion will be adopted not only in every child's hospital in France, but in 
every private family throughout the civilized world. 



The drug stores have got to be one of the most common evils 
of America. No wonder the foreigners on coming to this coun- 
try are astonished to find that there is hardly a village that has not 
one or more drug stores in it. I think they will average one 
to every five hundred inhabitants in our towns, at whose expense 
in health and money they are kept up in the greatest of style of any 
other business, and you help to pay for all the advertising in al- 
manacs, circulars and newspapers with brassy portrait of some 
" Great Health Keforming" genius, or noted "quack nostrum," 
or saintly whiskey seller that can take a thousand more or less kinds 
of patent medicines on commission and make a display of respecta- 
bility and glass jars that would stand the test of investigation gen- 
erally and a hammer about equal. Even the little boys remarking 
of some of them that "they have to stay all day on Sunday for 
fear they might miss the sale of a pint of whiskey." 
10 



146 GOOD DOCTORS. 

There is probably an occasional one kept within the bounds of 
the law, or intended to be at first; but how self-interest will warp 
men's judgment. Others are no better than what is called "a dog- 
gery." They make and keep all kinds of compounds that cause an 
immense amount of suffering, and keep anything made by others 
that will sell — all for "filthy lucre." What good can they do? 
What good do they do ? None. At least more harm than good. 
All the valuable articles they have properly belong to the grocery 
business. I learn there are towns in England, Ireland and Scot- 
land of iive thousand inhabitants, that have not a single one. Why 
should we, who are honored by them ? God save the babies, big and 
little. 

GOOD DOCTORS. 

The " medicine man " proper is the latter day style doctor, that 
of all men in this world ought to be one of the purest in person, 
morals and practice; with breadth of learning, practical attain- 
ments and knowledge. But when we come to look for that kind of 
men in the practice, the first exclamation is " Where, O where, are 
they to be found ! " 

They are certainly few and far between. The fact is, a large 
proportion of them begin as boys wanting to go into some profes- 
sion, and commence reading in a laid down course of study that 
was thought practical from one to two thousand years ago, getting 
into the ruts worn so deep before the circulation of the blood was 
understood, that they cannot see out upon the plane of a knowledge 
of common sense or reason of nature's own teachings of to-day. 
Doctor, do not stay down in the ruts or pitch your spite out on me 
for telling you the truth, but come up on nature's plane, the 
straightforward road to honor and success of a few; the balance 
please find their sphere on the farm or in the workshops, where 
they can be useful to society. There is a necessity for a few good 
surgeons and for many good, practical nurses, until the effects of the 
poison drugs, which their practice has afflicted us with for so many 
generations, are all worked out of the human system. Then we 
may hope for the good time prophesied in my text, when the child 
shall live to be a hundred years old and enjoy the fruits of his labor; 
when he will not have to turn all the profits over to support a 
herd of prescription agents for their little diagnosis and pre- 
scription, that they send the poor man to the drug store with 
nowadays to get the poison "opiate," the "tonic, "the "stimulant," 
etc., as they say. In other words their little fever drops, that will 



GOOD DOCTORS. 147 

continue your case from nine days to three weeks. The iron, the 
morphine, the quinine, aloes and many other injurious things put 
in wine, brandy, whisky and alcohol, making the forms more injur- 
ious. But the doctor will tell you they are ''diluted." This makes 
it a fraud, that they can make more money off of you and the 
word "die" is in it and hence we can understand the text that 
speaks of " dying daily." 

But they tell us they have ancient authority for their practice. 
That some would claim to be as good authority as the scriptures 
would be for the prospect of their salvation. Such as Thessalus, 
who lived a century before Christ, and treated his predecessors and 
cotemporaries with the utmost contempt and even took to him- 
self the modest title of the conqueror of physicians, and teaching 
that it was necessary to "produce an entire change in the state of 
the body." That is still practiced by the doctors of to-day, whether 
they believe or teach it or not. 

In place of practicing as natural law and experience has taught 
our best thinkers to merely regulating, correcting and removing 
morbid actions with natural simple acids. But if he practiced 
them they are so simple, natural and easily understood that his 
patients would soon learn to treat themselves, and see the good 
time prophesied of in the text. Then the occupation would be gone 
of ninety-nine out of a hundred of the physicians; really the sur- 
vival of the "fittest" in this matter would come to pass. Then it 
could be said: "Physician, heal thyself." Now they can't do it, 
and frequently know too much to take their own medicine, and 
send for another that is only too glad to have him out of the way. 
If they have a little bright streak about them will send for a good 
nurse that will clean them up and rub them down. But to retain 
his practice so as to make a living by his wits he must study up all 
the Latin, Greek, Hebrew or some doggerel lingo of words that 
show their great " learning," that they urge to blind the masses 
that make no pretensions, and are honest and credulous, hence 
look to the pretenders for information, but instead it is in many 
cases "the blind leading the blind and both fall into the ditch." 
Every now and then since the days of Hippocrates there has been a 
star in the profession that bursts forth into some light, the most 
common sense, and that which is becoming quite popular now 
days are the men that claim, like cures like, and depend on the sec- 
ondary action of the medicine which gives such infinitely small 
doses that it is a question whether it could be discovered by the 



148 GOOD DOCTORS. 

natural eye or not. They are called Homoepathics, and it is a 
long stride in the right direction. 

A few have broken away entirely from the old practice and 
become lights to the world of health seekers, such as R. T. Trail, 
M. D., E. D. Bs-bett, M. D., J. F. Newton, M. D., and many 
others, who have thrown so much light on the subject that some of 
the old M. Ds. feel conscience stricken and fearful that the 
" sceptre" is about to leave them, and conscious of the immense 
amount of quackery in the profession, are crying out "quackery," 
after th6 manner of others, where there is little cause for it, on the 
principle of the thief crying out "stop thief," and a number of the 
most bigoted and selfish of them are appealing to the legislatures 
of different states — Iowa, Illinois and Indiana — to secure fees, and 
are doing their utmost to prevent progress in the science of health 
and care for the afflicted. In some directions they have succeeded, 
but it will react on them four fold; like declaring the infallibility of 
the pope, it causes division in their own ranks among those that are 
wiser. We want no state religion, nor state medicine. 

" There is, I am sorry to say, as much quackery in the medical 
profession as out of it," says Prof. Barker. 

"How rarely do our medicines do good! How often do we 
make our patients really worse," etc., says Dr. Ramage, F. R. C. 
of Physicians of London. 

"Three-fourths of mankind are killed by medicines and pre- 
scriptions," says Dr. Titus, counsellor of the court of Dresden. 

Add to these the experience of cultured people everywhere and 
the honest confessions of hundreds of the best doctors, and we will 
conclude with Dr. Rush of Philadelphia, in saying to the profes- 
sion, "We have done little more than multiply diseases and 
iucrease their fatality !" 

Within my recollection calomel was a hobby with the M. Ds, and 
its terrible effects — stiff joints, loss of teeth, etc., are apparent 
to-day, the dentist especially reaping a fruitful harvest from this 
source, the result of salivation. This hellish stuff is still used to 
some extent, but colored with coloring water and called by other 
names. Public sentiment has driven them from that hobby as it 
did from "bleeding" till the patient would sink; they also used to 
physic for everything, but that practice is reversed. The present 
hobby is quinine and opium, cursing the nation with nervous pros- 
tration and weakness, enabling them and the druggists to do a pay- 
ing business by prescribing and supplying liquors, morphine and 
stimulants called by various names; if they give relief it is only tern- 



MEDICINE MAN. 149 

porary. What an influence they are having in the world ! I wish 
I could say it was for good. If we become a nation of alcohol 
drinkers and opium eaters it must be charged to this kind of prac- 
tice. It more than equals the old calomel song, which has more 
truth than poetry in it. Your experience or observation may prove 
the following: 

Epecac+nux vomica=sickness + D. 
Quinine+liquors=drunkenness+D. 
Laudanum-|-opium=daily dying-J-D. 
Calomel minus water=hell+D. 
Hydropathy +magnetics=Rs. of health+L. 
Bread+water, air, sunshine=health-|-H. 

"medicine man." 

Physicians of the highest rank, 
To pay their fees we need a bank, 
Since Wisdom, Science, Art and Skill 
Seems all comprised in Calomel, 
Quinine and Opium. 

Since Calomel has become their boast 
How many patients they have lost;; 
Mow many thousands do they kill, 
Or poison with their Calomel, 
Quinine and Opium? 

When Mr. A or B is sick, 
Go fetch the doctor, and be quick. 
The doctor comes with free good will, 
But ne'er forgets his Calomel, 
Quinine and Opium. 

He takes his patient by the hand 
And compliments him as his friend; 
He sits awhile his pulse to feel, 
And then takes out his Calomel, 
Quinine and Opium. 

He turns unto his patient's wife: 
Have you clean paper, ma'am, and knife? 
I think you husband might do well 
To take a course of Calomel, 
Quinine or Opium. 

He then deals out the fatal grains. 
I think, ma'am, this will ease his pains ; 
Once in three hours, at toll of bell, 
Give him a dose of Calomel, 
Quinine or Opium. 



150 BREAD. 

He leaves his patient in her care, 
And bids good-bye, with graceful air ; 
In hopes bad humors to expel, 
She freely gives the Calomel, 
Qjiinine and Opium. 

He soon reclines upon his bed 
And o'er his pillow leans his head ; 
Like hunted hares upon the hill 
He pants and drolls with Calomel, 
Quinine and Opium. 

The man grows worse quite fast indeed. 
To call a council, ride with speed ; 
The council comes, like post or mail, 
And trebles the dose of Calomel, 
Quinine and Opium. 

The man in death begins to groan ; 
The fatal dose for him is done, 
His soul urged on to heaven, or hell, 
A sacrifice to Calomel, 

Quine and Opium. 

Physicians of my former choice, 
Pray hear my council, take advice, 
Be not offended though I tell, 
I'm not so fond of Calomel and 
Quinine as you think. 

And if I must resign my breath, 
Pray let me die a natural death, 
And bid you all a long farewell 
Without a dose of Calomel, 
Quinine or opium. 

BREAD. 

Nature demands that we should eat to live, not live to eat. 

Here comes a query in my mind — whether or not, if we had 
remained in the normal condition reported to have been, when pro- 
nounced good, our food would not be more palatable in its natural 
condition, as many things are to us now? By some means we have 
become perverted in our tastes and habits, so that we are not u very 
good," and use many compositions called bread that do not supply 
nature's demand and the machinery of the human s}^stem gets out 
of order, so that it cannot act natural. Hence many become debili- 
tated, weak, and discouraged with themselves, with the mote in 
their own eye seem to see beams in other people's eyes. 

"Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is 
upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the 



BREAD. 151 

fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for fruit." Now this 
makes no exceptions whatever and says they shall be for meat. 
Further on we learn that there was forbidden fruit in the garden, 
of which Adam and Eve did eat, and they became wiser at least. 
I suppose that they learned that it was poisonous and probably 
inflamed their bodies, passions and appetites, so that they abused 
themselves till they actually became ashamed of themselves and 
began sewing fig leaves together to hide their nakedness, becom- 
ing more cautious or secretive. Some claim, these days, that Adam 
means a race of people not an individual person. That being the 
case, the above incidents may have been a little reform movement 
started in those days to correct the abuses they had fallen into. 
Allow us to suppose it may have been the eating of the fruit of the 
Nuxvomica tree that grows in that section of the country, or some- 
thing else equally poisonous and sickening. No wonder they got 
their eyes opened and were ashamed and became as wise as the 
serpent. But we find few of those degenerate children that are as 
"harmless as doves." 

Purity of conditions require very simple food of a natural qual- 
ity that requires little exertion to be got in the southeastern 
climates. Perverted conditions require labor to provide for our 
many unnatural wants, requiring the diligent use of the hands that 
produces the "sweat of the brow" to get our bread. Besides, dis- 
organized bodies require more force to keep them going than when 
the machinery is approximately perfect. Hence labor is irksome 
to many if not all, yet in the midst of it there is about all the pleas- 
ure they see on account of the accelerated condition of the fluids of 
the body; that when they become more stagnant, induces people to 
use stimulants that give temporary relief, if it does react on them 
fourfold; which stimulants in this case are the carboniferous, the 
fatty and heat producing qualities of white flour bread, out of pro- 
portion to the oxj'gen and nitrogen, and then use other stimulants 
in place of hydrogen. Thus becoming nearly all starch, and lack 
the gluten that generally goes with the bread and shorts to the cows 
and pigs. 

Hence it is absolutely necessary that we should eat the crushed 
wheat bread or the brown bread, to get the qualities that £o to 
make up the muscle and nerve forces as well as the minor qualities 
in the phosphates. 

The analysis of the human system shows that wheat is the most 
natural food to supply all the parts, if we would only use all of it 
except the bare hull, and there are many people who need it to help 



152 BREAD. 

carry off the natural waste of the body. ''In ancient times they 
beat it up in a mortar that gave them the benefit of it all, but it is 
crushed by machinery so no doubt it is all right," says F. E. Smith 
& Co., millers of Brooklyn, New York. We need such mills all 
over the country. The wheat meal is a good substitute, as I know 
by experience. But the cooks are the ones that should learn these 
facts and take an interest in carrying them out, so as to feel well 
themselves, have their families healthy and feel interest enough to 
learn how to make the best brown bread and gems. At first with 
many people that are very far gone astray in these conditions, the 
brown bread may not seem palatable; but when they know they are 
perverted and gone astray, the more earnestly should they deter- 
mine to get in the straight and narrow path to health, for to the 
healthy and strong the path is not so narrow. Hence if you wish 
to reach the happy land you must keep in the straight, safe way 
until you reach that happy state. You know the result of turning 
aside, and falling over the precipice. 

Yet there are some people that will persist in following their old 
habits occasionally from lack of causality and will force, and go on 
their downward course till they become dyspeptic, nervous and all 
out of balance, bringing on many "family jars" and neighborhood 
disturbances. Even among perfectly good people a bad state of 
stomach will cause many other difficulties, while by nature they 
have many good qualities. An instance in point occurs to me now 
that will illustrate forcibly the point: A friend of mine, a painter 
and glazier by trade, was in Chicago at work at the time referred 
to, and on Sabbath attended church and class-meeting, as was his 
custom. At class-meeting service a lady spoke unusually free of 
her sorrows and difficulties with her neighbors and friends, of 
terrible back-sliding condition, and then the church and society 
was all on the downward road to ruin and despair, as though none 
of them were any too good for the "bad place." 

During the week the husband of the good lady found it neces- 
sary to have some glass replaced in his mansion and some painting 
done. When he called at the shop to have it done my friend was 
sent to do the job of work. The lady at once recognized my 
friend as the strange brother she had seen at church. He recog- 
nized her as the strange "sister" that had freed her mind at the 
said class-meeting. Each of them being unusually free talkers 
they soon introduced themselves. She at once proceeded to apol- 
ogize to the stranger for her gloomy and uncharitable speech, and 
gave as an excuse or reason that she was troubled with dyspepsia 



BREAD. 153 

and "that her stomach was unusually out of order last Sabbath 
and hoped it would be overlooked." 

Now I am of the opinion such cases are numerous, but they all do 
not know where their inspiration emanates from, and if they did 
would not all be frankly honest enough to acknowledge it as this lady 
did. If your religion depends so much on the condition of your 
stomach how important it is to get your stomach right, and if you 
have not got any religion worth speaking of your "regeneration" will 
have a good beginning, and you will feel like you were "born anew," 
and a "new birth" is about as good a thing as could happen in 
any family where they really needed it. It adds so much to be 
jubilant over that frequently the whole neighborhood rejoice, and 
especially when the rubbish is all burned out of sight. The good 
"manna" for the hungry soul that will make them strong and 
grow in grace and the knowledge of the truth until they become 
strong, then in the power of their might they will rush onward and 
upward, sowing the seeds of joy, peace and plenty for all around, 
and if that is not heaven itself it is not far off. Then to take a 
sudden leap back to earth, so we can see ourselves, as others see 
us, in the mirror just drawn. Let us look to our stomachs, be 
sure they are cleansed of all filthiness of the flesh, and habits that 
degenerate and add to our faith, virtue and to virtue knowledge, 
and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance goodliness, if 
not godliness. 

Thus become fortified behind a bulwark of true principles that 
will enable you to stunt the fiery, craving darts of your own appe- 
tites and passions. That may be your hardest "thing" to contend 
with, bad habits, in fact, habit is the rock on which millions of good 
resolutions have been shipwrecked, when they know there is a chan- 
nel around, under, over or straight through, burst the rock asunder, 
go straight through to the beacon star of health and happiness. 

Dr. R. T. Trail in his Hydropathic Enc}'clopedia, says, "he 
thinks it may be stated as a general rule the greater the necessity 
for a change of dietic habits, the more will the individual suffer 
temporarily in making the change; the worse the physiological 
conditions produced by dietic errors, the more will the feelings 
rebel against a removal of the cause . " We know why by experi- 
ence that it is best to "keep the body in subjection to the will." If 
the former does revolt, have the true spirit of a man and do that 
which is right. 

Corn, rye, barley and oat meal make good healthy bread if well 
made and they may be mixed for variety with each other and with 



154 BREAD. 

the wheat meal and give good variety or the various healthy fruits 
may be mixed with some parts of them in a variety of ways and 
be good and healthy. 

Swiss guides and porters who have to bear extreme cold which is always 
supposed to require much animal food and whose labors are severe, are said 
to live entirely on a diet of polenta (mush) and cheese, and to be fine hardy 
specimens of manhood, carrying great weights with ease. The East India 
coolie lives on a little butter with his rice and pulse, but his climate is very 
different from the bracing air of the Alps, frosty air that anywhere else 
would be supposed to create a demand for the heaviest animal food. There 
is considerable (vegetable) oil in mush, and cheese furnishes albumen; so 
that in this simple diet are combined the carbons and nitrogens of food. 

But when you undertake to raise children exclusively on the 
white flour bread, they will be likely to run to fatty, soft, scrofu- 
lous conditions with many sores and all the diseases that come 
round, or otherwise be lean, lank, cadaverous in appearance for 
the want of nutriment to supply the conditions demanded to build 
up the muscular fibers that are starved out. Is it not cruel to feed 
the children on this white starchy truck on which a dog cannot live? 
The experiment has been tried by Magandie, Tedman and Gemlin, 
and has proved that dogs fed exclusively of the white flour bread 
lived but forty days. While those fed on the unbolted meal of the 
same grain lived without disturbance of their health. How can 
you reasonably expect yourself or children to resist disease? Ye 
lovers of truth heed the warning. 

There is abundant evidence to prove that coarse bread, with fruit 
and vegetables, have provided man with sufficient and easy alimen- 
tation in the warmer climates, and that the hardihood, the free spirit 
and the highest powers may be sustained by it. It has stood the 
test in severe trials. Some one has said of this, the staff of life, 
when a man eats a bit of bread, does he not therein consume 
heaven and earth and all of the heavenly bodies, inasmuch as 
heaven by its fertilizing rain, the earth by its soil, and the sun by 
its luminous and heat giving rays, have all contributed to its pro- 
duction, and are all present in the one substance? Then use it in 
your family daily, with such variety of the good and healthy things 
of this life as will build up a strong, healthy class of people, with 
cultured, well developed bodies and minds, and good morals, that 
all may attain unto that good time coming prophesied in our text, 
when a child may reach the age of a hundred yeai*3 and enjoy the 
fruits of his labor. Then eat the "bread of life " and live forever. 



MEAT. 155 

MEAT. 

"If meat makes my brother to be offended, I eat no meat." The 
epicure very naturally says: u I do not know that it is my brother's 
business what I eat, if it does not injure him or me." True my 
good brother, but the purpose now is to get you to stop and think 
whether you are not eating what injures you. To a certain extent 
I am my brother's keeper, on the social law principle. Moses desig- 
nated all manner of herbs and says they shall be for meat. Since 
that there has been many traditions as to meat. Then we come to 
the letting down of the sheet in Acts x, which says there "were all 
manner of four footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts and 
creeping things, and fowls of the air. Kill and eat. Call them 
not common and unclean." Some people try to construe it to have 
a moral meaning, but Peter seems to have had a cadaverous appe- 
tite, so there must have been a strictly literal meaning also. 

But the catalogue of herbs and animals designated in the two 
passages seem to give too wide a scope. You do not seem to be 
obedient to these directions. Your stomach would revolt at the 
thought of eating many kinds of plants and herbs, as well as at 
chewing many animals — creeping, slimy, revolting things — and 
some of the fowls of the air. I believe I have heard of people 
"eating crow" socially, politically and religiously, but it is a thing 
none of us like to do, especially if we think we are right before. But 
if we are credulous, obedient servants, and told we must, we gulp it 
down if it does incline to come up again. We may get used to it 
after a while and relish it. 

So we find we do use that divine gift of God to man — common 
sense and reason, a little, about what is best to eat and wherewithal 
we shall be clothed, etc. We call some things common and unclean, 
yet I am of opinion that many of them are by all odds better and 
more healthy eating to-day than some of the meats we eat. Just 
now consumptives are being cured by eating dog meat and broth 
made from the same; they say it tastes like mutton. Where is 
there anything more filthy and corrupt than some of our swine ? 
They are not naturally so, but from the way we have raised them 
for so many generations back, crossing them with a view of getting 
fat hogs the quickest at the least possible expense, regardless of 
health or hardy condition, as is shown by the large numbers that 
suddenly die annually. If they would be raised in a more natural 
way for three or four generations, where they could have grass, 
roots, herbs, nuts and fruits, they would develop with more muscu. 
lar strength and less of the carbon, "the survival of the fitest" 



156 MEAT 

would have a race of animals more healthy and normal; but as we 
have them generally now, shut up in small pens, lots or fields, 
crowded together, confined to corn — corn frequently rotten, sour 
swill and all decaying substances about the house and farm, they 
puff up with fat, lay around quiet, and suffer from heat until they 
lose their hair — such a blubber of carbon that they can hardly stand 
or walk, a conglomeration of scrofulous matter that frequently is 
alive with trichinae, a little worm-like insect which is plainly visible 
under the microscope, occasionally large enough to be seen with 
the nakecT eye. Within the past ten years many children and occa- 
sionally whole families, have been reported by physicians as having 
died from eating meat virtually alive with these same worms. Is it 
any wonder that hogs die, or have so littler power to resist disease? 
Is it any wonder that so many children who eat this diseased meat 
are troubled with scrofula, sores, blotches, weak-looking eyes, and 
have so little force of character; not only children, but men and 
women ? 

u Hog eat hog," is a common saying. If pork was too unhealthy 
for the Jews to eat, is it any better now ? Or if, as Dr. Adam Clark 
said, when a roasted pig was steaming on the table at a great dinner 
party: "If the animal was cursed under the law, how can it be 
blessed under the gospel V 

The only way I see to help this matter is to improve the condi- 
tion of the swine or your own condition by not eating it. I hardly 
know whether the masses of the people will ever be fully awakened 
to this subject, but individual families can do so and make it prac- 
tical and reap the benefits in person and society. 

Let the small pox or some such disease become prevalent in 
the neighborhood and see how quick the people will say: "We 
must all quit eating fat pork." Oh, ye?! if death actually stares 
them in the face they will take the hint, but like some people's re- 
ligion in such a case, as soon as the crisis is past they are like the old 
"sow that was washed and returned to her wallowing in the 
mire;" not heeding the fact that there are more deaths from their 
condition than any of the diseases. 

But when we come to add to this the condiments, salt, pepper, 
pepper-sauce, mustard, horse-radish, as a sugar coating for the 
pill; that excites an unnatural condition of the stomach; then to the 
weaker parts of the nervous system as an irritant, that many at- 
tribute to some other disease working on them. Such things must 
always react, weakening the part, as in diabetes, dyspepsia, neural- 
gia and all nervous affections. I think all other meats are healthy 



FRUIT AND VEGETABLES. 157 

if in good condition and not spoiled in cooking too much, and you 
would not eat more than half what is common now days. Eat 
slow and masticate thoroughly; never gorge your stomach with 
anything, much less meat. The best animal^ food is beyond all 
perad venture that derived from the herbicorn-beef, mutton, deer, 
fish, foul, wild game common in America, etc, if they are all 
seasoned with a good, lively, healthy appetite. 

Killing animals for meat is sometimes so cruelly done that I 
think it injures the meat, by the excited condition caused by the suf- 
fering, throwing the poisonous waste of the system back into the 
circulation by reaction and then suddenly chilled there. 

Should we not think of the golden rule in such cases and do as we 
would be done by? If it must be done do not make it more cruel 
than the old allopathic physicians used to occasionally do with 
human beings— bleed them until they would " wink out." Then 
the meat should be cleansed nicely and eaten while fresh, which 
can be done when away from market, by combining with neighbors 
and dividing, or by slicing the meat and cooking it a little, with 
barely enough salt to season it, pack it down in clean stone 
jars, close and then pour the rendered fatty part over it. This will 
exclude the air and then it will always be handy and fresh if kept 
in a cool place in hot weather. The nicest steak is cooked quickly 
on a hot griddle without grease, and a little butter and salt added 
as it is put on the plate. Now I think the saliva begins to flow. 

FSUIT AND VEGETABLES. 

Acids are necessary to the health of the stomach, especially if 
you eat meat of a fatty kind. In the latter case I would advise you 
to cook an abundance of greens with it in the spring time, vegeta- 
bles and fruits at other times. If we are in a normal condition and 
eat plentifully of fruits at the table, we have no use for the strong, 
concentrated acids and condiments, used extensively by people 
that are out of gear in body and mind; frequently getting so by 
their use. The use of an abundance of fruit would, I think, starve 
out half of the doctors in ten years, if generally adopted. 

Some years ago I began to notice a peculiarity about a young 
clerk in a dry goods store, in the way of eating apples after his 
meals. He was slim, delicately made, like his father, with a 
bilious appearance. He seemed to have got into it as a habit, he 
certainly could not have eaten much at the table, for I have fre- 
quently seen him eat two to three apples while in my sight, always 
after eating, how many more at other times I have no idea, but 



158 FRUIT AND VEGETABLES. 

probably not any, as he is quick active and generally busy now 
for several years, and notwithstanding his employment, he has 
developed to good proportions, showing a large development of the 
digestive organs. This certainly would not be advisable after a 
hasty meal, but with say one-half of what is usually eaten, I think 
it would be a capital good thing for most persons. 

But probably the better plan is to use those fruits that are so 
abundant now, canned and otherwise, more freely at the table with 
good healthy bread if you would be healthy and happy. 

If foolish girls that drink vinegar and suffer so as to use a smaller 
corset, would break the bonds of slavery to foolish, silly fashion, 
would put the corset around a swine and draw the strings a little, 
and allow their own body and mind to develop as much as possible, 
not only during their school days, but during life, they would be 
more happy, get better husbands, and they would deserve and get 
ten fold more love and respect all along through life, there not 
being so many sour stomachs, faces and habits. I see that there 
is. a move in this direction by some of the most intelligent and cul- 
tured ladies of our nation. 

Now please take this morsel of advice and commit it to memory 
and hold to it as you do your hopeful grip of salvation, for time 
and eternity. It will help to the bread and meat of life, you will 
feel and see the fruits of it, you will taste of the water of life. 

"A beverage prepared by God himself, 
To nourish and invigorate His creatures." 

That is this: Never fail to begin cultivating yourself physically, 
mentally, and morally. Get into the edge of the stream at once. 
Begin to get your boat put in order. Don't attempt to start out 
too fast, for it is for all time and up stream. Get the above trinity 
of oars in the best possible shape to do service and use them as 
long as possible. Now start up stream, steadily, safely, surely, 
and if your oars are the live, growing, vigorous kind, they will 
each become stronger, more beautiful, as time goes on, and you 
learn to handle them more gracefully and easily. Then you will 
go faster. But if you lay down the oars, they will rust and you 
will float down stream, probably to the briny deep. So be deter- 
mined from the start and be prepared for head winds, breakers, 
storms and pestilences. Then with a "long pull, a strong pull, 
and a pull all together," each oar will become brighter aud brighter 
to the "perfect day." The bark of the plrysical oar may fall off 
by the way, the untenable, stand points of the mental oar will be 



TEA AND COFFEE. 159 

rubbed off, the impractical points of the moral oar will be eradi- 
cated, and all be more practical and bright as the morning star, 
with the glorious, progressive results of such a life felt in the world 
or whatsoever sphere the influence may reach, it will be felt like 
the rays of the noon day sun. 

TEA AND COFFEE. 

If you are willing to learn by reading, thinking and observing 
others' experience, I think this subject will interest, and possibly 
profit you; and if you aie not honest and in earnest in finding out 
what is the truth and best for yourself, do you think you would be 
sincere in dealing with others ? If you have a bad habit are you 
willing to abandon it? Things that will do you no good will cer- 
tainly do you harm in the end, though it may not be apparent at 
first. I believe the effects of drinking tea and coffee to be some- 
thing like a serpent winding around his victim. I have heard vari- 
ous complaints by persons who use tea and coffee freely, the most 
common of which has been : "I have the headache so bad I must 
have a cup of tea," then drink two or three cups to relieve it; the 
same with coffee drinkers. I suppose I can enjoy the taste of tea 
and coffee as well as anyone, but never relished the idea of being a 
slave to anything, so I ordered Satan to stay behind me, and did 
not use either for nine years, hence would hear more about it than 
most of people do who use leather spectacles and find they cannot 
see clearly. While in the army we were furnished with crackers 
nearly as large as your hand, almost half an inch thick, and so hard 
that it was well nigh impossible to bite or break them, having the 
appearance of being hardened old "sinners " several years old, and 
having coffee provided us, and frequently not much else, I 
naturally took to soaking crackers and drinking some coffee, but 
soon paid the penalty — suffering f rom headache, laxative condition, 
etc. At first you may feel the effects but little, yet the habit will 
grow on you, if you permit it, just as whisky and tobacco does on 
the drunkard. 

If you were not in the habit of using them you would find that 
nature would revolt on their introduction to the stomach, as it 
would with any narcotic or poisonous substance, if you are in a 
natural, healthy condition, possibly not if you use your stomach to 
catch all the sweet and sour and let them work together and 
foment with all the condiments, carbon and such as if in the swill 
barrel, would make an uproar. All such unnatural food intrudes 
on the stomach and causes the gastric juices to flow unnaturally, 



160 TEA AND COFFEE. 

all together causing an inflamed condition of the parts that extends 
to the whole nervous system, causing an unnatural buoyancy that 
makes many people act very foolish after drinking either tea or 
coffee. In two to three hours a reaction takes place when they 
will be dull and stupid, and if it is kept up for a short time the 
reaction after this condition will cause headache, and the natural 
circulation of the system will be interfered with until their skin 
begins to look yellow from the stagnation of the fluids, the poison- 
ous waste of the system being returned they will be in what is 
called a bilious condition that frequently affects the mind and the 
vision so that they see others through "a glass" darkly and im- 
agine they see great blemishes in their neighbor's "character," 
reproach them severely many times without any cause, only their 
imaginary one. Such feelings leads them naturally downward and 
frequently get into other bad habits and company, the animal 
passions becoming the prominent feature of their thoughts and 
actions until they frequently become weakened so they neither 
have much mind force or character left, even in home life, as well 
as promiscuous intercourse. I could point out many such cases, but 
would have to name or describe so plainly that they would never 
pay me for the advertisement, even among people that make pre- 
tensions of better things, but which is only a cloak. 

I assert what I honestly believe before God to be true. Having 
been studying principles and inquiring confidentially of persons 
who would confide to me things that would astonish you, and 
in verification of the facts stated and known laws of human 
nature and laid down in the best of authority by men in cities, that 
can describe their subjects definitely, while in villages we cannot 
do so without such things injuring innocent parties and children. 
Scientific analysis shows that tea and coffee are purely stimulants 
in themselves. Don't waste your cream and sugar in them. What 
nature wants is nourishment. A writer says: 

Milk that is heated too much above 100° F. loses for the time, a degree of 
its sweetness and its density; but no one fatigued by overexertion of body or 
mind, who has ever experienced the reviving influence of a tumbler of this 
beverage, heated as not as it can be sipped, will willingly forego a resort to 
it because of its having been rendered somewhat less acceptable to the 
palate. The promptness with which its cordial influence is felt is indeed 
surprising. Some portions of it seem to be digested and appropriated almost 
immediately, and many who fancy they need alcoholic stimulauts when 
exhausted by labor of brain or body, will find in this simple draught an 
equivalent that shall be abundantly satisfying, and more enduring in its 
effects. 



TEA AND COFFEE. 16j. 

You will find fluids enough in the pure and sparkling water. 
Sweet milk and buttermilk seem to supply a felt want in the system 
and nourishes the parts needing it especially nowadays. Then, if 
you still imagine you must have something warm for a while to 
drink, use chocolate or crusts of bread or some of the grain that 
you make bread of, until you learn that they are not a necessity or 
even a pleasure, as my own experience has taught me. Besides 
you get rid of the habit of washing everything down your throat at 
your meals, and learn gradually, as I and many others have done in 
retaining unusual health, other things being equal, by drinking 
water systematically on going to bed, it will cool any heated con- 
dition of the stomach and supply the aqua of the system. Then 
with a clear conscience you will go to sleep quickly, rest quiet all 
night and awake with renewed vigor in the early morn, bright and 
cheerful. Then take a good hearty drink of water again and in an 
hour you will be ready for a good hearty breakfast, and if you chew 
your victuals decently the saliva of your mouth will supply all the 
moisture needed. You will have no occasion for drinking at the 
table. Then the gastric juices of the stomach, with the nectar like 
saliva of the mouth, makes a composition in the stomach that will 
soon set the process of digestion in motion, which will go on so 
pleasantly that you will feel good over it, in place of that uneasy, 
restless feeling many suffer. You can soon get in the habit of 
drinking an hour before meals if you will try, and other times to 
gratify thirst, unless you are too very hot. A year or more will 
give you a healthy, cheerful feeling and probably look with a clean 
skin, if not pure and beautiful, with a feeling that you are on the 
road to better life, that I have known by experience twice; now to 
stay for life. Nearly all clear-headed doctors will virtually coin- 
cide in this theory. Many have taken strong grounds on this sub- 
ject, in its favor, claiming that they should only be used as a medi- 
cine in sickness where a stimulant is needed, but they should not 
be continued longer than you would calomel, quinine or jalap. 

We should ' 'avoid the very appearance of evil. " How many faces 
show the stomach to have been used as a tan yard vat? It tanned 
itself till there is no give or take in it comparatively, while in the 
performance of its proper functions, it opens and shuts on the food 
something like opening and shutting your hand. When that 
power is gone what can you hope to accomplish in other things — 
certainly nothing very good. What kind of an offspring would be 
the result of such parents? What a heavy responsibility for a future 
existence must be on the shoulders of such parents? 
11 



162 TEA AND COFFEE. 

The poor, puny, innocent infant to eke out a miserable short life, 
just because the parents have got into bad habits, tanned their 
whole nervous system to some extent, with these narcotics, leaving 
the children, nervous, weak, irritable, degenerate and base. All 
the more liable to a sudden death, and universally several years 
shorter life; then when you have killed yourself by inches, and 
come to die, "O, for an hour longer." u Ha." 

Parents, can you see, or will you see, the responsibility on you? 
Will you continue to kick against the pricks of your own conscience, 
and do things yourselves that you know is wrong, and would not 
want your children to do under like circumstances? If you do, I 
will not by the help of all that is good. Will you take the responsi- 
bility of giving them a predisposition to worse habits, bad company 
illiteracy, strong drink and their fruits, and still hope to see any 
heaven here or hereafter? I know many of you are not seeing it 
now, that could with correct habits. Don't blame God with put- 
ting any curse on you. You do it, my friend. 

Now let us look back a few years at our fathers and grand- 
fathers with all their bouyant strength clearing the heavy timbered 
States that now are fertile fields of golden grain and fruits. 

According to natural law principles we should be getting 
stronger by correct living; but those who are going backward 
through the world and credulously believe in old traditions because 
their eyes are always looking back to the past in place of forward 
and upward to the great Author of nature's laws. Hence they will 
tell you that we are to "grow weaker and wiser." About all the 
wisdom they give is to see their own errorrs and weaknesses, 
because their eyes were in the wrong direction; hence backed into 
many brush heaps and thorn bushes they go with a rush back 
toward fallen Adam, but they have got the scars of the thorns and 
think they are wiser. If it is wise, when you start to heaven, to 
go one step in that direction and two the other way, then they are 
"wise," if not they should turn around with their faces in the 
progressive direction, then let the two steps be toward good or 
God which means the same. And when they twist their necks to 
look back try not to step in that direction, but merely take a 
glancing look as, in this case, to see what we can learn from the 
past; see if we are making any larger tracks than our grandfathers 
and grandmothers made, as it is not only our privilege but our duty 
to go on a broader tread than they did, because we have better 
advantages. You cannot do it with an injured body and mind. The 
great, good grandparents, with all their hard work, could have 



TEA AND COF*EE. J 63 

pleasure because they used healthy, substantial food and did not 
injure themselves by drinking tea and coffee. There was but lit- 
tle of it used through the country in my first recollections, near 
sixty years ago. Hard work seemed to be a pleasure to them. 
The grandfathers would grub, chop, roll logs, plow, sow, reap 
and mow with a mirthful vim, while the better half was not loathe to 
assist in many ways, yet find time to make the floor fairly shine 
like her pots, dishes and tinware; her meals prompt on time, and 
singing while she would make the spinning wheel, or loom, keep 
time winter and summer, do the knitting; while the old landlord 
read and they would then digest a subject thoroughly. Everything 
is made easier by inventions now days, but that is no reason why 
we should go backwards, but an additional reason why we should 
progress physicially, mentally and morally, if we do not have so 
many hard days of work to develop strength. We can if we will 
make it up in quality; we certainly have a wide field for our 
mental and moral powers to develop in; then why should we per- 
mit ourselves to become more degenerate than our worthy ances- 
tors? Every stock man will tell you of the improvement in sheep, 
cattle and horses in the last century. Is man to go backward until 
he meets the animal on the level ? I trow not, but if you develop 
the mind the body must have a due proportion, and if you propose 
to go up by way of the teapot spout it will land you in Salt river 
deeper than Jonah in the whale's belly where you won't be fit for 
tanbark as your tea will naturally fit you for; if you ever get out 
it will be like Jonah, by way of a puke. 

Then }^ou will wish it was not you that did not do your duty. I 
don't propose to go there by that route. Bemember, Jonah did 
not go according to law, hence he had to swallow the whale, one 
" good man " told me he would believe it if it was so written, so I 
have written it. I think there will be many poor, suffering chil- 
dren of tea and coffee drinking parents that will wish their parents 
had swallowed the whale in their day in place of the narcotics. 
Then give us no more tea ''parties," but lively, whole-souled social 
parties of people who only eat to live, "not live to eat and drink.'' 

The history in detail of these articles would astonish you, to see 
the rapid progress of diseases that have been traced directly to their 
use, and called by their names by the most eminent physicians of 
Europe and America. 

Tea is said to have been first introduced into Europe in 1664, by 
the East India Company. They brought two pounds and two 
ounces of it to the British king, a present. It is a native of China 



164 TEA AND COFFEE. 

and Japan. The introduction through the king was calculated to 
give it popularity among the venerating, credulous masses. From 
that small beginning it has grown steadily until it is estimated that 
in Great Britain alone from fifty to sixty million pounds are con- 
sumed annually. In the United States it is not used by near all the 
people, thank fortune, yet there are, it is said, two hundred and 
fifty million pounds shipped here annually, which cost the people 
that many dollars, and has frequently cost the consumers nearly 
double that amount as first outlay, and indirectly in the way of 
doctor bills, the result of its use, a larger sum, besides producing 
the incalculable evil of nervous-bilious conditions that are entailed 
on posterity. 

Coffee was not introduced into Europe and America until some 
years after the introduction of tea, as a beverage, but was known 
and sometimes used as a medicine some years earlier. "It is a 
native of Abyssinia," says Dr. William A. Alcott in a valuable 
work on these articles, ' ' from thence it found its way to Arabia in 
the sixth century, probably as a substitute for wine when that 
liquor was prohibited by the koran." And it seems always to have 
met with strong opposition by those who were enlightened on the 
subject of its use as a beverage, though occasionally favored as a 
medicine. As a stimulating article, like tea, it has an exhilarating 
effect for a time, and old topers want it stronger and stronger, 
which so tones the stomach that it demands stronger stimulants 
and more frequent, and when the victims are deprived of it they 
suffer from the coffee disease — headache and a goneness of feeling* 
that is positive torture. Nourishment will not take its place till 
nature is revenged and the system purified. I could here enumer- 
ate many able physicans that agree in saying that it is a strong nar- 
cotic; that in many cases it produces palsy, convulsions and ver- 
tigo. Some of them claim that tea and coffee are "among the 
most powerful poisons of the vegetable kingdom;' 1 others speak of 
them as "narcotic poisons," of which there is abundant proof in 
medical works. Some of the best scientific authority think coffee 
to be "more directly injurious to the digestive process and more 
e xhaustive of the general nervous energy than tea, and less injuri- 
ous to the kidneys and pelvic viscera." 

To those not used to drinking it it will act as a laxative to the 
bowels for a time, but its long continued use always results in con- 
stipation, and it is thought to many people it is more exciting and 
disturbing to the mental faculties than tea, and we have abundant 
proof of this in persons who use two or three cups at meals of 



TEA AND COFFEE. 165 

either of them by their buoyancy after and despondency, and 
frequently "blues," before meals. 
Dr. Alcott says: 

Very seldom indeed do we find curves (an ulcer of the bone) in children 
from any other cause than coffee. The ulcers connected with these decayed 
or mortified bones are exceedingly troublesome, as well as ugly in appear- 
ance. The patient is also troubled with hectic fevers; frequently has a tot- 
tering gait; feeble, gloomy, discontented ; restless in sleep, slow in denta 
tion, and frequently has sore eyes. 

Dr. Huneman thinks the nursing child frequently suffers from 
sore eyes, a rattling in the breast, and otherwise, when the mother 
uses tea or coffee. Let the bilious mother eat or drink anything 
sour and see how soon griping will follow in the infant; whatever 
she may eat, whether beneficial or detrimental, the child will be 
affected accordingly. I have seen these things sorrowfully tested, 
yet fathers and mothers continue these drinks and make themselves 
more and more bilious. My rule is to never do a thing that I 
would not want my children to do under like circumstances. I can- 
not help but feel that the moral backbone of people that do so is 
very weak. "Lead not into temptation." Courage to do right is 
one of the highest virtues, but to persist in a known evil shows the 
greatest weakness; with knowledge comes responsibility. 

A number of persons in New York recently took occasion to 
visit a number of dairy farms in the interest of science, and found 
that cows which had been fed on warm slops had very bad teeth, 
generally rotten and loose, while those which were fed on natural 
grain, being of the same age and older, had perfectly sound teeth, 
and were in better health. This is conclusive proof to every well- 
balanced mind that such things as hot poisonous drinks, such as hot 
tea and coffee, with hot victuals, will produce like results, and 
affect you in the same manner. Before they were in use there was 
no complaint of rotten teeth and bones, compared with the last sixty 
years, the last thirty being a thousand fold the worst. Up to fifty 
years ago there was not much demand for the services of a dentist, 
and the profession was very limited, but now they are numerous and 
false teeth so cheap that children can have them to play with. This 
is retrogression instead of progression, and the children inherit the 
condition . 

Dr. Burdell, of New York, having often noticed the great nerv- 
ousness of tea drinkers, made the following experiment : Having 
steeped a pound of Young Hyson tea in pure soft water and 
strained out the grounds the liquid was subsequently evaporated to 



166 BEDS. 

half a pint. This extract was applied to those teeth which re- 
quired an operation in order to lessen the sensibility, thus reliev- 
ing at least a part of the pain and continuing the use of it proved 
it would do the work of opium, oil of cloves, creosote or arsenic. 
Flee from them if you propose to do right. You are aware of the 
punishment of ''He that knoweth his duty and doeth it not." 
Many die soon from it, others run in the habit of strong drink. 
Avoid not only "the appearance of evil," but the evil, and you 
may soon be on the high road to a better life in this and other 
spheres. - 

BEDS. 

Many people seem to think little as to whether their beds are in 
a healthy condition, or not, yet stay there from one-third to half 
their time. And will occasionally boast of the great length of time 
they have had that mattress or feather bed without renovating, 
probably not been in the sunshine for months. 

Beds are an important factor in retaining good health. The 
waste of the human system is far greater through the pores of the 
skin than many have any conception of, and the emanations pene- 
trate to every part of the warm bed during the night. You may 
say it is only the animal heat. Well, is it an imaginary thing or 
is it a real substance? You have seen it rise from the warm bed in 
the form of steam, I suppose. It conveys dirt with it where ever 
it goes. Then the tangible perspiration is very great, relieving and 
soothing the body while we sleep. You have noticed how the 
steam from your tea kettle or boiler will soil things about the room, 
yes, how often it penetrates the beds though they may be at some 
distance off in other rooms, with the door ajar, especially where 
washing is done in the house, leaving the bed damp and unhealthy. 
It is almost impossible to keep feather beds really clean, and they 
cannot be recommended for use. What a grand thing it would be 
if our bed rooms could be on the sunny side of the house and then 
opened up and let the sun shine in them daily. But many beds 
are in little dark rooms, with heavy dark curtains possibly at the 
only window. Virtuous people should never use such curtains to 
keep out God's beautiful sunshine. A white curtain will let light 
through. Every room should be well ventilated, doors and win- 
dows thrown open in the summer season, if the flies do come in. 
The fly is of use. It is now said they cleanse the air of animalcule 
and spores some of which, perhaps, are the germs of disease. In 
hot weather there should be great care of the beds, but summer or 



DOCTORS CHOOSE THE LONGEST ROUTE. 3 67 

winter expose them to sunshine frequently; the nice house-keeper 
will always be proud to have her beds seen, the careless ones not. 
I think nearly all agree that the good, clean straw bed is the 
healthiest. I know it can be made the best shape for comfort. 
Where it can be had as plenty and cheap as it can through the 
country and small towns it can be renewed nearly every three 
months. It's better for the sick. There should be great care in 
cleansing after being used by the sick. Change the contents. If 
you use feathers send them to the renovators, but they are going 
out of fashion; it may be a comfort for you to know, so you can 
now make the large fashionable pillow used now out of them and 
lay them on a chair for the night, and have a small pillow or 
bolster of feathers, cotton, or hair, to sleep on and be in a sensible 
fashion. 

TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 

When boys or young men start out on a given theory as a healer 
of the body or soul on the popular track to make it win a living, 
for say fifty years, and get, say, ten or more years start on that 
paying road, even if the road is a round-about and dangerous route; 
he will seldom stop to consider whether he is on the right road, 
safest or shortest, but take it for granted, as he did when he started 
that he is on the right paying road, but if anyone has the temerity 
to suggest a shorter and safer route, but may not pay quite as well 
at present; he being a polite gentleman, will respond: "Oh, 
yes; you may be right," but lets it pass in at one ear and out at the 
other, but never laying his* predilections one side to reconsider his 
route whether it is the best or safest one for the masses. 

DOCTORS CHOOSE THE LONGEST ROUTE. 

They stop at some station, we will call it "Calomel," or "Pre- 
destination," as long as they make that hobby win, but when the 
people decide that it is dangerous, impractical, and not the best 
way, as claimed by the doctors, they say so. Then these wily 
doctors get on a new hobby on the same route, but you may call 
it another station. There are many names of stations that we could 
give on the road where they have been driven "from pillar to 
post," but it would take too much space to enumerate. They are 
rather " stationary" always wanting a station, but let me illustrate 
their theory and practice by supposing that they start from New 
York, aiming to go to London. Say they started fifty years ago from 
the above named station, " Calomel." In place of going direct by 



168 SHORT ROUTE THE BEST. 

water they have been going in the opposite direction all this time 
up through the north part of British America, wandering about, 
giving the people cold comfort, finally out through Alaska, from 
where the people gave them such a bounce that they jumped the 
strait and we find at this time they are stationed in China dealing 
out quinine and opium, thus giving the people "Hades." The 
doctors may try to get out of Hades by way of Africa to make 
port, but the people see the "pint" is principally the pocket and 
will leave them there with their composition adapted to that place. 

SHORT ROUTE THE BEST. 

So vou see we can not expect any reform from that source as 
they only look at one side, which I started out to show. Hence 
men that have had experience of thirty or forty years with large 
families and otherwise no selfish interest in the matter are or should 
be safer advisors in that direction than the "medicine man." 
Hence we presume to suggest that we don't like the backward 
movement or round-about ways that these leaders of the blind 
have taken, and think experience has taught us that the short, 
straight route by water or electric telegraph to reach the port of 
London healthy is the best. It is natural. It is safe. It is sure. 
And the learned of all classes of people are saying the least medi- 
cine the better in all cases; that drives all to homoeopathy over the 
line to hydropathy and magnetics. 

We cannot be cleaned from all our impurities, without using a 
natural means of doing so. For if we attempt otherwise there must 
be injury still left, let it be physical or moral. All violations of 
natural law brings a penalty on the violator. But there has been 
graciously provided remedies for many of them; yet there are many 
of them unpardonable. You may pass over the "dead line " if you 
use unnatural remedies. You will very likely do so and you may do 
so by eating, drinking or abusing yourself in any way. Life is said 
to hang on a slender thread. It behooves us to take care of our- 
selves and try to strengthen the cord, and if we find a weak placo 
to strengthen it in a natural way, not by weakening another part as 
is taught by the profession in "counter irritants." God pity the 
thousands of poor, suffering in that way. I have been there and 
know whereof I affirm. It is a sin against light and knowledge. 
If the inflamed part is internal, first get the whole surface thor- 
oughly aroused to a natural action by bathing effectually; the 
extremities warm, keep all in that condition b}* rubbing from head 



SHORT ROUTE THE BEST. 169 

to foot, magnetically occasionally; apply warm clothes over the 
inflamed part, thus giving ease and asorbing the unnatural heat and 
poisonous secretions of that locality into the wet pack and nature 
will throw it off into the natural channels if the circulation is aided 
magnetically. Let the patient have the benefit of sunshine at a 
south window daily if possible. Give abundance of fresh air at all 
times and comfortably warm, and an abundance of light; if the eyes 
are weak, shade them. Use very light curtains, if any, about the 
apartments. Did you ever try raising plants in the shade? If so, 
the} r were weakly things; but how vigorous and beautiful when 
developed in the sunshine, with the roses. The human form when 
well and naturally developed is far more beautiful. 

I generally kept well tanned at the window when I could not get 
out, hence I know whereof I speak. The warm rays of the sun 
will make every nerve feel a pleasant thrill, when we have not 
been in it enough. You may call it God's magnetism, if you like 
to, His honor and glory. 

When you come to consider the vast waste of the human body 
through the pores you will see the necessity of fresh air and some 
agency to assist in keeping up the circulation of the nervous fluids 
to aid the more coarse fluids to convey to the surface the waste. 
All that are retained, poisons and injures some point, then you 
may see the necessity of cleanliness, which is essential to Godliness 
or health . Frequent washing of all parts of the body is as essen- 
tial to health as the washing of your face and combing your hair is 
to your appearance in society. Yet there is a class called "codfish 
aristocracy" (which means those that use more "perfume," to hide 
their shame, than soap or common sense). In these circles of 
society they speak of not being well. "I am not well to-day," 
"Generally have poor health," "I have been quite feeble for a num- 
ber of years," "Am in delicate health," etc., as though it was 
"popular," honorable or a credit to them. They cannot rise in the 
morning to do the needed work but can get to the theater or else- 
where late at night. 

It is a reproach on society. My idea of this matter is that it is 
not to the credit of any one to be a violator of natural law; in fact, 
where a person is individually to blame for it, it should be as much 
a reproach as violating the State or " moral law." Yet the merci- 
ful man will sympathize with poor, ignorant deluded criminals. 
You or I do not want to be classed with them, I trow. The way of 
the transgressor is hard; let us avoid his path. What I have said 
may touch a weak point, but if you would enjoy the heavenly 



i70 SHORT ROUTE THE BEST. 

breeze on the hill top you must climb the hill. You have my per- 
mission and request to start up the hill to cheerful, buoyant health, 
at once. I will take it as a compliment if you will become a live, 
moving u finger board," always pointing others in the right direc- 
tion. 

Let me repeat what Dr. Trail says you are made of, if you are 
all right; if you are not, get there: 

First. Water constitutes the greater proportion of the entire bulk of 
the body. 

Second. Water composes more than three-fourths of the whole mass of 
blood, more than seven-eights of the substances of the brain, and more than 
nine-tenths of the various colorless fluids and secretions. 

Third. Water is the only vehicle by which nutrient matters are con- 
veyed to the blood and through the blood to all parts of the system, for its 
growth and replenishment. 

Fourth. Water is the only medium through which waste or effete par- 
ticles or extraneous ingredients are conveyed from all parts of the system to 
the excretory organs to be expelled. 

Fifth. Water is the only solvent, dilutant and detergent in existence for 
animal and vegetable alimentary and excrementitious matters. 

Sixth, Water is the only material capable of circulating in ail the tissues 
of the body and penetrating their finest vesicles without vital irritation or 
mechanical injury. 

Seventh. The only morbid effects of water result from improper tem- 
perature and over distention of the hollow viscera or circulating vessels 
from excess of quantity — effects never necessarily unavoidable. 

In the light of these facts, patent to reason, is it not evident that 
when we become deranged by any ill habits the proper use of 
water, externally or internally, would be what would be needed in 
dissolving those little motley substances that are clogging the chan- 
nels of commerce from one part of the body to another ? These 
little dams or clogs is what you want to dissolve; then with a slight 
electro-magnetic breeze you will get rid of the worst difficulties 
possible in a short time. 

Are you not aware of the fact that thirst is the hardest thing to 
suffer, and want of water the greatest calamity that can befall a 
country. All the vegetation languishes and withers and all ani- 
mals suffer greatly or perish in such a case. A country so parched 
as a patient with fever hails as a blessing from on high a good 
shower of rain. In the case of a ship that has run out of water, 
the sailors long with intense eagerness for a shower of rain, when 
it comes the drops soon find the parched lips and stomach of the 
fast failing, feverish sailor. 

The same horrible condition afflicts the traveler on the desert 
when he fails to find water where he may expect it, and many die. 



SHORT ROUTE THE BEST. 171 

With what intense anxiety such people look for water and with 
what avidity they take it into the famishing body, and when they 
drink they recover as it were from the dead. And so it is with 
your body when you become feverish from any cause. You may 
on account of wrong habits in living not realize it as certainty as 
they do. Still nature demands it, give it a reasonable supply, and 
it will be as a well of water to you bringing forth life. 

Let as many as can have a bath room, a tub or a little "Beth- 
saida," You have probably read that: "Now there is in Jerusalem 
by the sheep gate a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue 
Bethsaida, and a house having five porches; in these lay a multi- 
tude of the sick, of the blind, halt, and withered," awaiting the 
troubling of the water. 

Their supposed necessity for waiting was no doubt from their 
preconceived notions that an angel troubled the waters at a certain 
time, and gave it virtue to heal the first one that got in. If it was 
a small quantity of water it might make a slight difference in clean- 
liness. But in this case, no doubt, the expectant energies had 
something to do with it. But this co-operating with the forces of 
nature, and energizing people who thought they could not walk, 
put forth an energy of which they were unconscious, was no doubt 
the real cause of many supposed miraculous cures, for God has 
without doubt given the waters in their natural and pure state all 
the proportions necessary without delegating an angel or spirit to 
improve upon them. 

An American, by the name of D. Robinson, who made the most 
thorough explorations of Palestine of any traveler, believes that 
the fountain now called the Fountain of the Virgin, is that which 
formed the pool of Bethsaida, says it is an intermittent fountain 
which from time to time bubbles up a foot higher than at other 
times and subsides again. This is probably the troubling of the 
waters which the sick waited for. So you may conclude it was 
their expectant energies which aroused their magnetic powers and 
the water that did the healing. So you needn't wait or hesitate 
like Namaan the Syrian, but go at once and wash like him if neces- 
sary seven times, and be healed of your leprosy or any other mal- 
ady that you have brought on yourself by your sinful course that is 
pardonable or curable. 

But as to any miraculous energy infused into Namaan's case, it 
will require more credulity than I have to believe, but from what 
has been intimated and will be explained, we will give greater 
credit to the Author of all good. But I have no doubt that Elisha 



172 SHORT ROUTE THE BEST. 

deemed the water necessary in this case, and to designate Jordan 
would keep up the expectant energies higher in the pompous sold- 
ier than to return to the waters at home in Damascus. So many 
people are aroused to more activity or energy by using the means 
necessary to go off to some watering place. This is a change to 
those that use it at home, and may be profitable. If it is mineral it 
will probably make a manifest change under circumstances for 
good or evil, but would not be best often. 

But a faithful energetic trial at home without expense is gener- 
ally best,- and be blessed in using the means. Faith without work 
is dead being alone. 

Fever is the result of nature's effort to throw off morbid poison- 
ous waste matter from any cause, as when you take cold, there is a 
check put on the circulation, locally or generally, fever may follow; 
any thing that checks the circulation may cause general heat over 
the surface called fever; local heat is called inflammation. The 
important feature of treatment in all classes of fever is the 

Wet Sheet Pack, this is" done in this way: Say take two or 
three comforters and lay them one-half way on the bed, where the 
patient may be laying back, the other half of each comfort hang- 
ing down on the floor; then lay a blanket over the comforts in the 
same way, then a wet sheet partly wrung out of a half bucket of 
water of any desired temperature and place it quickly on top of the 
blanket in the same manner — the patient undressed ready — then 
roll forward on to the wet sheet, then throw all the others half up 
over the patient, tuck snugly around the neck, body and limbs, 
then put a wet cloth on the head; the temperature in either case is 
not important, they will soon get warm, and probably easy and 
frequently go to sleep. If the fever is very high, hot or cold 
cloths changed often should be put on the head, or one -for a while 
then the other has seemed good to me, and have been effectual. 
In intermittent fevers this should be done when the fever is high, 
and in continued fever at its highest periods if it is twice a day for 
three days, or if the patient is vigorous longer, but that length of 
time generally breaks up any kind of fever if attended to faithfully. 
You must use your judgment as to the length of time the patient 
should stay wrapped in the pack. It is generally from a half hour 
to an hour. It takes longer when the party is vigorous and 
severely attacked, especially the first time or two, which frequently 
does the work complete itself, but if not repeat it; those that are 
weak or debilitated from any cause should not stay in so long; after 
they have been in nearly long enough they will usually get restless,, 



AGUE CURED. 173 

begin to frisk about; this is good indication that the poisonous 
matter is being worked out by the vital forces through the pores 
that are now open. They can afford to wait on this process ten or 
fifteen minutes; it will be a relief; see that the feet are warm all the 
time, if necessary use large bottles of hot water or irons. If they 
are sick at the stomach before this process or at any time let them 
drink warm water till the bile is thrown up, and see that the bowels 
are relieved by warm injections, in all cases whether there is any 
disturbance there or not. Let the room be well ventilated at all 
times, to be comfortable. When the patient has been in the wet 
pack long enough turn the clothes down, a little at a time, and 
wash the person thoroughly— if they are going to get U p soon, with 
cold water, as the atmosphere will admit — if not it is not important 
if they are kept warm; rub dry. This is the hydropathic part of 
the treatment. 

AGUE CURED. 

A young lady west of this city told me her sister had the ague 
every other day all winter, but joined church, and the day fixed 
for the immersion in the river, a mile away, happened to be on her 
ague day. In her zeal she had gone to church; at the river her 
fever was very high, and many were opposed to her being immersed ; 
she and the preacher insisted that it be done; it was and she walked 
a mile in her cold, wet clothes, with a heavy shawl around her; of 
course she became very warm, if it was chilly weather; it done the 
work effectually. She had no more ague after that. Try it, it may 
also cure your "total depravity." 

But I have found by experience that, in bad cases, the magnetic 
treatment, added, will make decidedly the quickest cures on record; 
that is, by means of thorough hand rubbing from head to foot, im- 
mediately after washing as above, by any vigorous person; but the 
better quality of nerve force the better success. Every man, woman 
and child possesses some power in this way, but some vastly more 
than others; hence, in bad cases, call the best magnetic healer in 
the vicinity. The two processes work charmingly together and 
should be worked together always. In some cases a thorough 
sponge bath, before rubbing, will answer every purpose; but where 
there is considerable fever the wet pack should be repeated daily; 
where there is chills or a cold stage the magnetic treatment should 
begin before it begins and kept up for an hour or more; this may 
prevent there being any fever. Many cases will be cured the first 
or second day; but few go over the third day, if they do they are 



171 SCARLET FEVERS 

generally cases that in the medicine man's hands would be sure to 
run from nine days to three weeks, then most likely die; so keep 
on this natural, simple process diligently, keeping the circulation 
as natural as possible. Where the patients are weak the magnetic 
treatment will give buoyancy and strength; the patients to have all 
the water they want to drink, npt often needing or wanting much 
else the first two or three days, but what they do eat should be 
something very easily digested, as oat or wheat meal porridge, or 
fruits and delicate soups. 

THE SCARLET FEVER. 

It is as uunecessary for a child to die of the scarlet fever as it is that it 
should be blind with a cataract. Let us see! At any time before the body 
has finished its ineffectual struggle we are able to help it, not by wonderful 
medicines, but by the knowledge of anatomy and the application of common 
sense. We consult the sympathetic nerve, and do what it commands us to 
do. We must give the child salt when it wants it; we must give it acid 
when it has fever and anxiously craves it— not vinegar, but lemon juice, be- 
cause the first coagulates albumen, and the latter does not, on account of 
the surplus of oxygen which it contains. To imitate the soothing mucous in 
the intestines, which is now wanting, and to give some respiratory food at 
the same time, we add some gum-arabic. To restore and relieve the injured 
nerve, we apply moist warmth. 

In practice we can fulfill all this with the following simple manipulations: 
Undress the child and bring it to bed at the very first sign of sickness. 
Give it, if it has already fever, nothing but sourish warm lemonade with 
some gum-arabic in it. Then cover its abdomen with some dry flannel. 
Take a well-folded bed-sheet and put it in boiling hot water; wring it out 
dry by means of dry towels, and put this over the flannel on the child's abdo- 
men. Then cover the whole, and wait. The hot cloths will perhaps re- 
quire repeated heat. According to the severity of the case, and its stage of 
progress, perspiration will commence in the child from ten miuutes to two 
hours. The child then is saved; it soon falls to sleep. Soon after the child 
awakes, it shows slight symptoms of returning inclination for food; help its 
bowels, if necessary, with injections of oil, soap, and water, and its recovery 
will be as steady as the growth of a green-house plant, if well treated. Of 
course, if the child was already dying, nothing could save it, or if it has al- 
ready effusions in the lining of the heart or brain it is much better that it 
should die. But if the above is applied in due time, under the eyes and 
direction of a competent physician, I will guarantee that not one in a hun- 
dred children will ever die of scarlet fever. I know this will startle some of 
my readers, especially those who have lost children already, but I shall go 
still further. I maintain that a child will never get scarlet fever if prop- 
erly treated. If a child has correctly-mixed blood, it will not catch the dis- 
order if put in bed with a sick child. This is ' still more startling, but 
nothing is easier of proof .—Good Health. 



COMMON SENSE TREATMENT. -75 

COMMON SENSE TREATMENT. 

I cannot in my space go into general details in every case, but 
good common sense will generally dictate, but you should have 
Dr. K. T. Trail's encyclopedia, published by Fowler & Wells, 753 
Broadway, New York, a valuable work, and Dr. E. D. Babefct's 
Health Guide, 437 Fourth avenue near Thirtieth street, New York. 
These combine the two principles. 

In local inflammation, hot or cold packs or poultices of any thing 
that will hold moisture; heat to heat for pain is generally the best, 
when you apply cold to heat it is force work, but frequently a 
pleasant force. 

Frozen feet or limbs should always be covered with snow or 
coldest water till the frost is drawn out, then rubbed effectually, 
then kept warm and moist till well. Some strong men have broken 
chills by getting into a barrel of cold water while the chill was on, 
when they are sound in every other particular and a good strong 
will force as they manifest, I have no doubt of good results. 

In headache, clean the stomache with warm water, the bowels in 
like manner, get the circulation to the feet by foot bath or rubbing. 

In "Grippe," sweat out of your system; the sooner the better. 

In congestions and severe pain in the bowels, use the warm in- 
jection freely, hot packs on the outside with plenty of rubbing; get 
the feet warm by rubbing or hot water in a jug. 

In dysentery and diarrhoea, get good circulation all over by bath- 
in 2: frequently and begin with warm water injections after each 
stool, then tepid to cold water; be careful about the diet. 

In piles, a course, easy diet is of first importance with good cir- 
culation, quiet reclining position part of the time, no straining of 
any kind; where they protrude put them back and be still for the 
time. As a mechanical help, I have found raw linseed oil with just 
enough pure white lead in it to make it milky looking, a good thing 
injected with a very small glass syringe, the oil kept there most of 
the time, it toughens the parts and has made some remarkable cures. 
This mechanically with hygienic habits, and frequent hip baths — 
sitting in a tub of water — is to be relied upon as a cure. 

RHEUMATISM. 

Long experience tells me medicine don't cure it. Good habits in 
living, bathing to keep the circulation good, hot pack on inflamed 
parts with care about taking cold, thorougn magnetic treatment are 
the true safe remedies. 



176 SPINAL DISEASES 

SKIN DISEASES 

Of all kinds require just thorough cleansing with the bath, rub- 
bing with a coarse towel, and get rid of greasy food. 

Felons and other sores — pultice till relieved; then keep them moist 
till well. 

CUTS, BURNS AND BRUISES 

Should be washed clean, then covered with the white of an egg, 
soft linen or cotton wrappings, tolerably thick and kept wet, re- 
newed, say morning and evening. 

TO STOP BLOOD 

In fresh cut, tie a handkerchief, string, or anything just above 
the cut tightly, till the wound is dressed, with a slight pressure 
over the aperture to keep it from bleeding. In nose bleeding 
snuff cold water, if that does not do it put a little cotton in the nos- 
tril and leave it some time. 

SORE EYES. 

Purify the body thoroughly inside and out, and bathe them in 
tepid soft water. Magnetism cures many. 

NERVOUSNESS. 

There are many causes. Correct any local trouble on the above prin- 
ciples, keep the body well cleansed, be in the fresh air and sunshine 
all you can, don't eat white flour bread or greasy meat, and don't 
drink tea or coffee, but a good, wholesome, easily digested food; if 
that does not do it, magnetism with it will; keep quiet and good 
natured. I saw an account recently of a bad case of Saint Yitus 
dance being cured quickly by setting the patient daily on a mule. 
That would be animal magnetism sure. 

SPINAL DISEASES. 

Thirty years of personal experience teaches me that medicine 
does not cure these diseases, and nothing else where the bone is 
wasted away it is said it will not renew; I think it possible for 
nature under favorable circumstances to callous up and so partially 
restore the parts. Mine is benefited in that way, but there is not 
one of my kind in thousands of cases. They are generally from 
weakening the muscles or their connection with the spines, by 
strains or use of liniments in back ache from other causes; they are 
frequently irritated and weak from uterous and kidney diseases, 



HOT WATER TREATMENT. J 7 7 

that are brought on by bad habits in eating, and the use of tea and 
coffee and other things; these things can be corrected. The rheum- 
atism and general debility from any cause injures the whole 
nervous system, and as the back is like the back spring to a knife, 
has to stand the force of all movements, and the small of the back 
where the large sciatic and other nerves put off, with a slight strain 
the inflammation may settle there and extend in time to the brain, 
seriously affecting the sheath of the nerve, or the fibre of the cord 
which impedes the flow of the nervous fluids, so that frequently all 
real force is lacking to drive a free circulation of the blood to these 
parts. I have never seen that others do, but I believe there is a 
soul force that moves the nervous fluids that keeps up the motion 
of the heart and lungs that pumps the blood to all parts, hence the 
necessity of cultivating the soul power and using it. In all these 
cases the first thing is strict hygienic habits in eating and cleaning 
the person, getting all the fresh air and sunshine and pleasure pos- 
sible by their own effort, heartly seconded by all others. It is a 
disease that feels the need of sympathy, and generally appreciates 
it. If they are down they need a cot, so that there can be a free 
circulation to all parts, of the electric currents. I know my perambu- 
lating cot to be the best for any one to be moved on with ease 
into Heaven's sunshine. 

Then in all these cases use the wet pack where there is pain or 
inflammation freely, but the climax is a thorough systematic treat- 
ment of the whole person with magnetism. The person doing the 
treatment should be a well organized healthy person of good clean 
habits and of the finer qualities of nerve force, earnest but cheerful 
and pleasant; then there is hope for nearly all such cases becom- 
ing useful, reasonably happy if not strong and perfectly well. 

HOT WATER TREATMENT. 

Dr. John J. Caldwell, of Baltimore, says: 

The time is not far distant when the medical practice will be reduced to 
two propositions, viz: Preventive medicine and surgery. Says Sir James 
Paget, M. D., of London: "Jenner to the suffering nations showed where 
crafty pestilence, that in gloom had trod, overwhelmed in grim defeat, lay 
prostrate at his feet. Then in the steps of Jenner came Pasteur." 

Ninety out of every hundred diseases might be avoided by timely use of 
preventive medicine, its progress during the past decade is more than by 
the profession at large in the past century. 

Hot water treatment as a preventive of consumption, neuralgia, nervous 
exhaustion, nervous dyspepsia, rheumatism and gout, nervousness or dis- 
tressing nervous excitability is more readily subdued by sipping a goblet of 
hot water than any other known domestic remedy. 
12 



178 HOT WATER TREATMENT. 

The hot water treatment, now so much in vogue throughout the world, 
should be known and practiced by every household. Its results are so wonder- 
ful and immediate as to entitle it the magic remedy. It is an unequaled 
remedy in sleeplessness, painful dyspepsia and its kindred troubles; in delir- 
ium from strong drink an appeaser for the desire for alcohol; as a calmer 
to alcoholic nervousness and a destroyer of insatiate thirst. It is a grand 
nerve remedy— a panacea in backache and headache. 

Dr. Cuther says: "The medical drinking of water at a temperature of 
blood heat to one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, having become popu- 
lar enough to call for an allusion to it in the London Lancet as a valuable 
American contribution to medicine, and since it seems to be used at random 
from the directions of its distinguisned introducer, I have thought that the 
origin and proper use of hot water should become historic." 

The practice dates back to 1858, when Dr. James H. Salisburg concluded 
a series of experiments on feeding animals to ascertain the relation offered 
as a cause and cure of disease. Among other things he found that the fer- 
mentation of food and the products of these fermentations were the chief 
primary factors in producing the diseases which arise from unhealthy ali- 
mentation. With the idea of removing these diseases by removing their 
causes he employed hot water in order to wash out the acetic, bubyric, hydro 
sulphuric, lactic and saccharic acids and sulphide of ammonium fermenta- 
tion vegetations—yeast— from the stomach and intestines. 

At first he tried cold water to remove these prodncts of fermentation, but 
cold water caused distress, pain and colic, so he increased the temperature 
to lukewarm, which produced nausea and excited vomiting. The tempera- 
ture was increased to 110° and up to 150° Fahrenheit. This was well borne, 
and affording a feeling of agreeable relief which thousands of persons have 
since testified to. The hot water excites a normal downward movement of 
the alimentary canal, washes down the slime, yeast and. bile through the 
normal channels, washes out the liver and kidneys; the bile is eliminated 
through the bowels and not through the blood via the kidneys. It was some 
time before the proper times of adminstration and proper number of ounces 
of hot water to be drank at meals could be settled in order to-obtain.the best 
results. Following are the directions for using. 

1. The water must be hot ; not cold or lukewarm. This is to excite a 
natural downward movement of the bowels. Cold water depresses, as it 
uses animal heat to bring it up to the temperature of the body, and there is 
a loss of nerve force in this proceeding. Lukewarm water excites vomit- 
ing, as is well known. Hot water at a temperature of 110° to 150° Fahrenheit 
such as is commonly used or liked in the use of tea and coffee. In cases of 
diarrhoea the hotter the better. In cases of hemorrhage the temperature 
should be blood heat. Too much ice water is bad, sick or well. 

2. The quantity of water varies usually from one-half to three half pints 
at one time drinking. 

3. Time for taking, from one to two hours before meals and half an hour 
before retiring to bed. 

4. Mode: The hot water should be sipped and not drank so fast as to 
distend the stomach and produce uncomfortable feeling. From ten to fifteen 
minutes consumed during drinking, 

5. Continue the use generally about six months. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 179 

To medicate and make agreeable to the taste in case it is desired use aro- 
matic spirits of ammonia, clover tea blossoms, celery seed; to allay nervous- 
ness, lemon juice, sage, salt, and epsom salts are sometimes added. To al- 
lay intense thirst, use salt-peter, which leaves a mosit film over the dry 
mucous membrane surfaces. In cases of diarrhoei, cinnamon, ginger and 
pepper may be boiled in the water and the quantity lessened. For constipa- 
tion, a teaspoonfal of epsom salts may be used with it. Not more than 
eight ounces of liquid to be drank at a meal; this is in order not to unduly 
dilute the gastric juice and wash it out prematurely, and thus interfere wtih 
the digestive processes. 

The effects of treatment are that all the natural passages of the body are 
modified and improved in a few days. A moist condition of the mucous 
membrane and the skin takes place. Ice water in hot weather is not craved, 
and those who have drank ice water freely are cured of the propensity. 
Drunkenness has a strong foe in the use of hot water. 

Following is a summary of the general consideration on the therapeutical 
drinking of hot water : It is the foundation of all treatment of chronic 
diseases. It excites downward movement. It relieves spasms of colic of 
the bowels by applying the relaxing influence of heat inside the alimentary 
canal, as heat applied outside relieves. It dilutes the ropy secretions of the 
whole body and renders them less adhesive, sticky and tenacious. It is an 
inside bath. It dissolves the abnormal crystalline substances that may be 
in the blood and urine, preventing coughs, neuralgia, rheumatism and gout. 
It is necessary to have hot water out of the stomach before meals. Use it to 
wash down the bile, slime, yeast and waste, and have stomach fresh and 
clean for eating. It promotes elimination everywhere. If objection be 
made it must be remembered we are 75 per cent water. The gas that some- 
times eructates after drinking hot water is not produced by the hot water 
but was present before, and the contractions eject it; thus, it is a remedy for 
hiccough, belching etc. 

RECOMMENDATIONS OF FOOTE's HEALTH JOURNAL. 

Try popcorn for nausea. 

Try cranberry for malaria. 

Try a sun bath for rheumatism. 

Try ginger ale for stomach cramps. 

Try clam broth for a weak stomach. 

Try cranberry poultice for erysipelas. 

Try a wet towel to the back of the neck when sleepless. 

Try swallowing saliva when troubled with sour stomach. 

Try eating onions and horseradish to relieve dropsical swellings. 

Try buttermilk for removal of freckles, tan and butternut stains. 

Try the croup tippet when a child is likely to be troubled in that way. 

Try a hot flannel over the seat of neuralgic pain, and renew frequently. 

Try taking your cod liver oil in tomato catsup if you want to make it 
palatable. 

Try hard cider— a wine glass full three times a day— for ague and rheum- 
atism. 

Try taking a nap in the afternoon if you are going to be out late in the 
evening. 



180 LEPROSY CURED. 

Try breathing the fumes of turpentine or carbolic acid to remove whoop- 
ing cough. 

Try a cloth wrung out from cold water put about the neck at night for 
sore throat. 

Try snuffing powdered borax up the nostrils for catarrhal "cold in the 
head." 

Try an extra pair of stockings outside of your shoes when travelling in 
cold weather. 

Try walking with your hands behind you if you find yourself becoming 
bent forward. 

Try a silk handkerchief over the face when obliged to go against a cold, 
piercing wind. 

Try planting sunflowers in your garden if compelled to live in a malarial 
neighborhood. 

Try a newspaper over the chest, beneath your coat as a chest protector , 
in extremely cold weather. 

TEEKAPATHY . 

Christ armointed the blind man's eyes with spittle and clay. Yon will 
hardly be reckless enough to charge that there was any deception 
practiced in that matter. Was it not a reasonable good means to 
an end desired ? It may have been a handful of mortar tied on to 
take out the inflammation for all we know. The touch of his mag- 
netic fingers might do it and he said when about to leave his fol- 
lowers '*The things I do ye shall do." Then why don't you all do 
so. Washing will help. Think of that Pompious Namen — we suppose 
he got dirty as other soldiers and really needed the seven dips in 
Jordan he got to wash him. 

In Germany, France, Italy and other eastern countries, clay was 
in early times used as an ointment, sometimes mixed with the per- 
spiration scraped from the body of the athlet. It may be just 
what you need if you have the itch, or you might bury yourself to 
the chin in terra firma and take a rest if you have the seven year 
kind. I think it would probably be good. 

LEPROSY CURED. 

I think we have reason from its nature to believe even leprosy 
may be cured if the proper means are used in its earliest stages. I 
have seen many accounts that go to prove it. I will give one as it 
seems to cover the whole ground in a common sense way to say 
the least, and has the merit of being reasonable. 

Agnes Strickland, a highly respected author, in her stories from 
history of the early traditions of Britain, gives as a fact the story of 
one, Prince Blandud, the son of Lord Hardebros, eighth king of 
Britain. A young man took the leprosy; at that time no cure 



LEPROSY CURED. 181 

was known to the Britain s and was highly infectious. Therefore 
all persons afflicted with it were not only held in disgust and 
abhorence, but by the barbarous laws of the times, were doomed 
to bo driven from their homes and society to the forests and des- 
erts, where none but a few herdsmen lived. 

It appears that the law had been rigorously enforced, and when 
it was known that the young prince had it, the chiefs and elders of 
the council assembled together and insisted that the king should 
expel his son from the royal city, which was finally done, and after 
considerable time had elapsed he is found faithfully herding swine 
near the river Avon. His employer, who was a very old man that 
could not see well, had not discovered his disease. Coming and 
going late and early; staying for several days at a time in the forest, 
living mostly on the rich fruits and nuts. To his great sorrow he dis- 
covered that some of the swine had taken the disease from him. 
Not knowing what to do he seldom returned, so that it was not dis- 
covered by his employer. Going deeper into the forests he came 
to the banks of the Avon and discovered rich fruitage beyond, but 
not wishing to risk driving the herd across, returned and got per- 
mission. He then went to the river again and crossed at a shallow 
place that is called Swine's ford, from this circumstance, to this day. 
As soon, however, as they were across they were taken with a 
frenzy of delight and ran to where there were some springs oozing 
out of a boggy place covered with high grass and weeds. 

Into this swampy place they ran and wallowed with delight; all 
attempts of the prince to drive them all out at once proved to be of 
no avail till hunger induced them, then they would eat and return 
in spite of him. In the course of a few weeks he noticed that the 
scales were coming off and were soon cleansed of their leprosy. 

The prince now was encouraged to hope that the same remedy 
might cleanse him. He removed his clothes and went into the 
warm, salty ooze- bed in which the swine had reveled with so much 
advantage. He was soon sensible of an abatement of the irritable 
and painful symptoms. He would eat of his coarse, black bread 
and roasted acorns and return to his wallow in the mire. In this 
way his health was fully restored. He then returns with his swine, 
tells the story of his life to the old man, who takes him home to 
his parents. After some preliminaries is fully restored to his nearly 
heart broken, loving mother. He afterwards traveled some, and 
then succeeds his father as king, and founded a city close to the 
springs. 



182 NURSING THE SICK. 

If you get the leprosy try it. It would be just the uemedy for 
the bad people I have described and the glutton and the wine bibber, 
the drunken sot, and the moral leper that pulls back — like a balky 
horse— at everything new or progressive till the investigators that 
honestly seek the truth pull them through. Thank God u the world 
moves" and light is reaching those that want to cultivate and im- 
prove their condition. Let us all do it. 

NURSING THE SICK. 

This is one of the most delicate things I ever undertook to do 
well. An item credited to the Saturday Review, is so good I 
give it. 

44 The tact required for a sick room differs from all other kinds of experi. 
ence. Amateur nurses seldom possess it. Now and then a lady is to the 
manner born; and without instruction or previous experience blossoms into 
a full-grown nurse at a moment's notice. The doctor who finds one ready 
in a house rejoices heartily. His own credit as well as the recovery of the 
patient, is probably assured. Seldom, however, has he this good fortune^ 
His ordinary experience is very different. If he wishes the sick-room at a 
certain temperature, he cannot have it managed. The fire is alternately half 
extinct and blazing up the chimney. There is no care to have it warm at 
sunrise and sunset, and moderate when the sun is shining and the air warm. 
The invalid is awakened from a priceless sleep by hearing the cinders fall 
on the unprotected fender, or by the noise of a clumsy hand putting on 
coals, which might easily have been wrapped in pieces of damp paper left 
ready for use. 

The morning meal is delayed until the patient has passed from appetite to 
faintness. Household troubles are freely discussed in the room. Mary has 
given warning because there is so much more going up and down stairs 
since missus was ill; the cook is so extravagant, and yesterday's dinner was 
spoilt; Johnny has cut his finger, and Lucy has tumbled down stairs; such 
things are told as if they would amuse the invalid. But worse than this is 
the mysterious whispering at the door, and the secret obviously kept to 
excite the nervous patient's suspicions. The irritating creak of a dry boot* 
the shuffling of a loose slipper, try a sick person's patience unreasonably; 
and the amateur nurse argues against such silly fancies, and thinks they are 
matters in which reasoning can be of no avail. The untrained nurse never 
commences her arrangements for the night until the patient is just beginning 
to grow a little sleepy. She then arranges the pillow's, moves the chair, stirs 
the fire, and perhaps makes her own bed. Such fusses at sleeping-time pro- 
duce fever in a most unaccountable way, and the amateur is amazed and 
bewildered because the patient lies awake all night. Besides all this and no 
matter how noisy and elaborate the preparations are for the night's campaign, 
several things are forgotten down stairs; no beef tea is to be had in the 
middle of the night, no boiling water. Amateurs do not know that sick 
people should not be asked what they will have, but should be saved even 
the mental exertion of making a choice. However desirable it may be that 
they should arrange their affairs, business matters should not be discussed 



SWALLOWING THE TRIBUNE. 183 

before them. Sometimes a man who has not made his will before his illness 
will be anxious and uneasy till he has made it, and will get better when the 
matter is off his mind, but to arrange such things, requires nicety and tact 
such as the amateur, who perhaps shares the sick man's anxiety, cannot 
show." 

I have had a good share of experience and think if you follow 
the above advice, then be frank, free and cheerful in all you do 
with and for the sick. Never make them feel that they are a bur- 
den on your hands. It is no time then to worry them about religion ; 
do your duty when they are well: do not all crowd in Sunday after- 
noon, and no other time: offer to take care of them at night and 
do it manfully: be very quiet while they sleep, and have plenty of 
fresh air. If they are despondent tell them a cheerful anecdote or 
amuse them in some way for a moment. 

For instance I and friend Harbison went one night several 
years ago to take care of "Uncle" Wm. Taylor, a large fleshy old 
Democrat, that had not been expected to live from day to day for 
a week. He wanted his medicine wrapped in a little piece of soft 
paper. I was amused at this and thought I saw my chance to 
amuse him. Said I to him, "Uncle Billy, have you got an old 
New York Tribune about the house?" "Why, no," said he, "what 
do you want with it?" "Oh, I thought it would be good to wrap 
your medicine in," said I. He saw the point. 

SWALLOWING THE TRIBUNE. 

It seemed like almost raising the dead. The thought of an old 
Democrat as he had always been, swallowing the Tribune, was to 
much. At first he could scarcely laugh but the more he thought 
about it, the more he would laugh till the tears would roll down his 
cheeks. I was afraid it was most too big a dose, but he would think 
of it every time the medicine was to be taken and renew it, so there 
was no use for the medicine. In the morning the old doctor (Dr. Noble, 
an old abolitionist) called and was surprised to see his patient not 
only alive, but looking buoyant. "What does this mean?" says 
the doctor. "Uncle Bill} 7 " could hardly tell him for laughing. 
"Don^: you think Richards wanted me to swallow the New York 
Tribune around my medicine." Then Doc. "threw himself away," 
then drove to my house to give vent to his good feelings and told 
all about it. The patient got well fast, and after I got down 
showed himself a true man and friend to me but he has outrun me 
after all for a higher sphere of life, having died since. 



184 MAGNETISM. 

MAGNETISM. 

Vital magnetism and electricity are variously combined elements 
in moving the machinery of every living being and doubtless a 
similar substance pervades or permeates all substances and space. 

This, I think, will hardly be disputed by any one that has inves- 
tigated the subject and believes that all of God's laws are uniform 
under like circumstances. 

But all that I propose in this brief article, is to give you some- 
thing of the theory and practice in the healing art, 

Yital magnetism — the warmer positive elements, while vital 
electricity is the relatively cold or negative element of that sublime 
aura that permeates the whole human system from center to circum- 
ference, and without doubt, in my mind, it is that invisible sub- 
stance used by that Godlike soul power in connection with the mind 
of men in keeping the nerves and heart in action using the oxygen 
and hydrogen taken into the lungs to keep up a supply of fuel for 
this aura and purify the blood as the heart sends it on its mission 
to the lungs, then to every fiber of the body carrying to it nourish- 
ment, carrying away the internal waste, while the magnetic aura 
gives action to those fibers that expel the external waste. Thus 
you may see that any injury to the fiber, the blood or aura brings 
on difficulty and in whichever part it is, will require its particular 
kind of nourishment, which would be food, hydrogen and oxygen — 
the pure elements of which I am trying to recommend to your 
prayerful attention. 

If we have a reasonable amount of native talents we may supply 
ourselves with these things ninety-nine times out of a hundred, if 
we have that force of character true men are made of, yet the 
one hundredth time may require the aid of that grand social law 
which should be prized higher than it is — brother help brother, and 
' all be brothers and sisters. 

Harmony is necessary in society to promote happiness, but abso- 
lutely essential in our physical organization for the full enjoyment 
of health and happiness. A few practical examples may be in 
place, for anything that is rot practicable and useful, it ma^es no 
difference as to what the theory may be, I have not the patience to 
deal with. I have spoken of this matter, incidentally, in former 
pages, in one instance, of my personal experience, which T will 
here repeat in part. Peculiar circumstances- led me to investigate 
this subject. While undergoing unusual suffering some two years 
after having become helpless, Mr. D. Hallam did me a kindness 



MAGNETISM. 185 

b} r bringing Dr. Lockwood, of Ottumwa, a magnetic healer; being 
ignorant on the subject of magnetic healing I laughed at the idea. 
I had given up all hope for relief through the agency of medi- 
cines, and their propositions were so fair that I" concluded to let the 
doctor proceed. He laid his hands on my head and with a down- 
ward movement relieved my head from pain very quick; he next 
laid his hand on one side of the spinal column, then on the other, 
very lightly, for two or three minutes, which set my nerves going 
like whip-crackers throughout my entire body, causing such severe 
pain in the spinal column that it seemed to set my teeth, so I was 
compelled to tell him I could not stand it. He stopped, and when 
he left promised to return in a month. My nerves kept up the 
whipping movement for several hours. Although suffering from 
the treatment it proved to my mind that there was a power in it 
beyond my conception. 

The next time he came I requested him to commence at my head 
and go down the spinal column; it relieved me wonderfully, but the 
same nervous whipping went on, but fetid pus began soon to ooze 
through at the lower end of the column from the inside through 
the groins, that lias continued occasionally since; with attention, it 
relieved me more than all else in all my trouble. 

Then I investigated the subject quite thoroughly, tried the power 
of many, and found all kinds of qualities in them; some a pleasant, 
soft, agreeable sensation; others a kind of quivering feeling, and 
others with a strong arousing disposition on my sensitive nerves. 

At a time when I needed help, Mr. H. Bramhall happened to call 
on me. He had no knowledge or faith in this matter but I had him 
take me by my right hand to see what the effect would be; a thrill- 
ing, arousing sensation started in a minute up my right arm, in 
about five minutes it passed to my left hand strongly, then- vibrated 
back to my brain causing a whirling sensation for a minute, then 
started down my back; he seemed to feel an unpleasant sensation 
and was going to let go, but I did not want to be left in that condition 
and held on; but oh, how it did hurt my poor back, and then passed 
on to the calves of my legs where it cramped severely; then to my 
feet where a singular arousing sensation was felt; then I broke out 
all over with perspiration, and let go his hand. His sympathetic 
feelings were aroused. He is an excellent nurse and does a large 
share of it. 

I was better for several weeks but got worse again, my head so 
dizzy and in a whirl that I could hardly hold myself on the bed; a 
terrible feeling. I sent for him, he came and rubbed my head for 



186 NOTED HEALERS. 

a couple of hours, which relieved me. He treated me several times 
afterwards, but finally acknowledged its power and remembering 
how many he had rubbed that gave relief, but had thought only of 
the friction before; but now he had aroused me without friction; 
had aroused me so that I had thrown my unhealthy aura on hi in so 
badly each time that he would become so dizzy that he could not 
sleep or work the next day — a saddler — and laid off several days. 
When my wife would lay by the side of me during those worst 
spells she would be giddy in the morning, so that she could hardly 
go about for a while. 

When aroused up by these spells of neuralgia it seemed 1 was a 
battery of myself to most people; then after them, or too constant 
study, that worried me, I would have sinking spells so that it 
seemed as though I would sink through the bed. 

There are many children injured by sleeping with sick or very 
old, feeble persons, as they lac^ their usual magnetism and draw 
the child's life forces away from it to supply their own. Dr. Davis, 
of this city told me of one case where many old practitioners had 
doctored a child for a long time before it was discovered what the 
matter was, and the child, with a new bed-fellow got well promptly. 
The sick or debilitated, weak or exhausted ones can be strengthened 
by having a healthy bed-fellow of the warm, magnetic, cheerful 
kind; while those of a cold, electric, blue kind, no matter how 
large and healthy, in a passive state, they will sap the life forces 
from even the weak but loving child. But these men or women 
are wiry and can stand plenty of hard work, and when they have a 
strong will to do a thing they are like an electric battery; Gen. 
Jackson fashion. 

The practioner soon learns by moistening his hands and long 
sweeping strokes whether he touches the patient or not to give them 
the benefit of this and not receive their diseased aura. 

NOTED HEALERS. 

I could enumerate many remarkable cures known in this section. 
One, a young lady at Osceola given up by all their doctors as in- 
curably insane, when a healer was sent for and in three days materi- 
ally improved and in three weeks cured her, which caused great 
rejoicing. 

The most noted healers have been Dr. Paul Caster, of Ottumwa, 
Iowa, who cured thousands. Dr. J. K. Newton, of Philadelphia, 
Dr. J. G. Johnson, of New York, have made cures so won- 
derful and many, that if it had been done in earlier, less en- 



COMPARISON OF SUBTILE POWERS. 1ST 

lightened days, among credulous, simple hearted people, they 
would have worshiped them as gods and called the cures made 
miracles as has been done in other ages, but now easily explained 
on common sense natural law principles. 

soul power; or, the theory of vital aura. 

The foregoing facts may appear wonderful and mysterious to 
many, as did the circulation of the blood, the power of steam, the 
magnetic telegraph, the revolutions of the planets, that have been 
fully demonstrated scientifically, and generally accepted as great 
truths; yet none of them any better proved than this vital magnetic 
healing power has been, and so endorsed by intelligent men on the 
subject. But as there is not as much ready money to be got out of 
it by great leaders of society, as some other things, it has not been 
pushed before the people. Yet when understood and practiced 
among the masses it will be of greater practical benefit than any- 
thin 2" ever brought into use in the healing art. 

The proper understanding of the theory of this vital aura will 
unravel many mysteries. When we come to understand that qual- 
ity, other things being equal, is the measure of power of everything 
in nature. 

COMPARISON OP SUBTLE POWERS. 

In other words, Dr. Babett gives the gist of the matter, first 
remarking u all elements are potent in proportion as they are sub- 
tile and refined;" in other words, fineness is power; grossness is 
weakness. 

Thus such gross elements as rocks and earth lie in stupid inert- 
ness, having principally the negative power of resistance. Water 
is lighter and more subtile, and has greater power, being able to 
wear away the rocks and dissolve the earth. Air is eight hundred 
times lighter than water, and yet, when aroused, can sweep the 
ocean into spray and dash the forests to the earth. Steam, being 
still more subtile, can burst the very earth asunder, as in the case 
of earthquakes. 

Electricity, being still more refined, is one of the principles that 
sweeps the world around through space, and bears on its wings the 
starry orbs; many of which are millions of times larger than the 
earth itself. 

Ascend, now, still further, to the vital aura, the direct hand- maid 
of the soul, and we come to a principle so subtile that it can pene- 
trate all known substances, and wield even electricity. From this 



188 COMPARISON OF SUBTLE POWERS. 

rise to the spirit itself; first the human spirit, then the angelic, 
arch-angelic, and finally to the Infinite spirit, theprimate and ulti- 
mate of all power in the universe. Thus does power ever increase 
as we leave the gross and impure, and ascend toward the refined 
and heavenly. 

While our thoughts are on the heavenly, what must be the vast 
culture and improvement, on, on, on, beyond our present concep- 
tion, which places man in the image of the great first cause of all 
things; what a grand, progressive future there must be in store for 
those who" will climb the angelic ladder. But to get back down 
that ladder, we may say, we understand there are to be different 
grades of angelic spirits; spoken of as angels and arch-angels, etc., 
with different powers, as messengers and ministers. 

And man is said to have been created a little lower than the 
angels and with an immortal spirit and soul; an ever living, think- 
ing power, as it were a spark from the great source of all good, 
favoring man with the essence of all power; that he may use at 
will, within the bounds of natural law principles. 

And man being a free agent, within the bounds of law, he is at 
liberty to use that divine essence of power at his own discretion, for 
selfish purposes, or for the good of others; but the true principle is 
to equitably divide this power. 

Take hold of something that will benefit you and your fellow 
beings and it will give you an inspiration that will give you pleas- 
ure and profit. 

Will power is a strong factor in this magnetic healing; by it 
you throw the electric forces at will. Faith is no more essential in 
the patient than in the farmer to sow the seed. It takes work, by 
some one, to accomplish the purpose in either case. One crop is 
about as sure as the other. If your body and circumstances are 
like the poor ground, and conditions to bring forth any thing good 
you may have, as it were, to make it all over, there is a way to 
enrich soil. You may need juJ; what others can spare to build up 
your body and mind. If you have u faith as a grain of mustard 
seed," grounded on evidence as you can in this matter, see what a 
wonder you are. 

In the current number of the Medical Record, Dr. Hammond says that 
when you poke the end of your finger in your ear, the roaring noise you 
hear is the circulation in your finger, which is a fact, as anyone can demon- 
strate for himself by first putting his fingers in his ears, and then stop- 
ping them up with other substances. Try it. and think what a wonder of a 
machine your body is, that even the points of your fingers are such busy 



THE DIVINING ROD. 18J) 

workshops that they roar like a small Niagara. The roaring is probably 
more than the noise of the circulation of the blood. It is the voice of the 
vital processes together— the tearing down and building up processes that 
are always going on in every living body, from conception to death. 

You may remove mountains if you work for it, as faith, without 
work, is dead, being alone. 

THE DIVINING- KOD. 

It strikes me that the foregoing principles in qualities of sub- 
stance explain how it is that men do find water with what is called 
a divining rod . I will give my theory of it, perhaps it will throw 
some light upon the subject. I claim that all living bodies have an 
atmosphere of their own, as truly as has the earth, and that they 
hold electricity positive and negative in relation to each other, 
always affecting each other more or less in proportion to the 
strength and proximity. Harmony of action in these things give 
life and activity as positives and negatives always do, but the 
extremes should always be avoided in these truly male and female 
principles; in the social world we have abundant evidence of their 
existence; thanks to the Originator of all these things, there are 
degrees in the relation. We have use for extremes in heat and cold 
in many things. We have in the positive, fire, caloric, the earth's 
magnetism, vital magnetism; in the negative, ice-water, steam, 
electricity of the battery and vital electricity. Each living body 
possesses some proportion of both, as in man the extremities act as 
negatives to the vitals; so it may be between the stronger and 
weaker parts; for instance, where one part of the mind is weak the 
balance may be unusually active, or where the body is injured the 
mind may be unusually strong and active for a time, but cannot 
often last as long as in perfect health. Frequently there is a great 
difference between the right and left hand, or the right and left 
arm, therefore when you take hold of the divining rod — a forked 
stick — you form a battery that sends off the vital aura to the next 
finest or most harmonious substance within its radius, which would 
be likely to be water if in the vicinity of it, on account of its being 
more concentrated. 

To find water below the surface, the stronger a man is in the 
aura the better; then all that is necessary, I think, is, that he take 
a small fork from the limb of a tree — of the kind which experience 
may prove to be the best for that purpose. Those I have seen used 
I think were about three-eighths of an inch thick, each prong about 
a foot long, and the main stem about six inches, in length. In 



190 A SINGULAR PHENOMNON. 

searching for water the person should not use his will forces at all 
in connection with his work but be entirely indifferent and passive 
in regard to success or failure. Let all spectators stand at a dis- 
tance to prevent their becoming attractions, especially if ladies; 
then follow the guide of the divining rod till it points straight 
down, then try it in every direction till you find the course of the 
stream; follow the course till you arrive at the point nearest 
the desired location of the well; from this point walk backward 
at a right angle from the course of the stream until the rod points 
downward triangular, the number of feet between this and the 
starting point will be the same from the surface to the water. 

Water may find your well, but if you want running water, it can 
be obtained by this method. What a heavenly blessing is good, 
pure water ! 

A SINGULAR PHENOMENON. 

For the benefit of those who want everything proved by Scripture 
we submit the following, and it will show its antiquity: 

"Dr. L. C. Woodman, of Paw Paw, Michigan, contributes the following 
interesting though incredible observation: I have a singular phenomenon 
in the shape of a young man living here, that I have studied with much 
interest, and I am satisfied that his peculiar power demonstrates that elec- 
tricity is the nerve force beyond dispute. His name is William Underwood, 
aged 27 years, and his gift is that of generating fire through the medium of 
his breath, assisted by manipulations with his hands. He will take any- 
body's handkerchiefs, and hold it to his mouth, rub it vigorously with his 
hands while breathing on it, and immediately it bursts into flames and burns 
until consumed. He will strip, and rinse out his mouth thoroughly, wash 
his hands, and submit to the most rigid examination to preclude the possibi- 
lity of any humbug, and then by his breath blown upon any paper or cloth- 
ing envelope it in flame. He will, when out gunning and without matches, 
desirous of a fire, lie down after collecting dry leaves, and by breathing on 
them start the fire, and then coolly take off his wet stockings and dry them. 
It is impossible to persuade him to do it more than twice in a day, and the 
effort is attendant with the most extreme exhaustion. He will sink into a 
chair after doing it, and on one occasion after he had a newspaper on fire as 
narrated, I placed my hand on his head and discovered his scalp to be vio- 
lently twitching as if under great excitment. He will do it any time, no 
matter where he is, under any circumstances, and I have repeatedly known 
of his sitting back from the dinner table, taking a swallow of water, and by 
blowing on his napkin, at once set it on fire. He is ignorant, and says he 
first discovered his strange power by inhaling and exhaling on a perfumed 
handkerchief that suddenly burned while in his hands. It is certainly no 
humbug, but what is it? Does physiology give a like instance, and if so 
where? 



A SINGULAR PHENOMENON. 191 

Among the last things that Christ said to his followers according 
to St. John, 14:12: "Verily, verily I say unto you, he that 
believeth on me; the works that I do, shall ye do also, and greater 
works than these shall he do, because I go to my father." 

Christ, in giving his commission to his followers, says, Mark, 
16:17: "And these signs shall follow them that believe;" verse 18, 
"they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." James, 
5:14, 15: "Is any sick among yon, let him call for the elders of 
the church and let them pray over him (earnest desire), annointing 
him with oil (aura) in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith 
shall save the sick." Ananias put his hands on Saul that he might 
recover his sight. 

Acts, 28:8, 9: "And it came to pass that the father of Publius 
lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux, to whom Paul entered in and 
prayed and laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this 
was done, others also that had diseases, in the island, came and 
were healed." 

So you may take courage, Mark 6:45, for Jesus said unto them, 
"A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country and 
among his own kin, and in his own house." 

And even He could there do no mighty works save that He laid 
His hands upon a few sick folks and healed them. Many other 
things did He do, yet He says to you, "The things I do ye shall 
do also." 

• I like the idea of getting rid of our lack of moral courage and 
laziness, enough "to put away that enthusiastic doctrine that 
teaches we shall not do good unless our hearts are free to it," for we 
should cultivate at every point. 

This magnetic power has been used, no doubt, through all these 
years of past history, by some believing that it was a special gift 
of God to them, and making that impression on the people, they 
looked up to them as above common humanity. 

Then there has been deception practiced with it many times, to 
make believe that they were more than human. Joe Smith — the im- 
itater of old David — of Latter Day Saints notoriety, mesmerized a 
young lady in the east, and had the traps set to have many present 
when he raised her from the dead, (as he had reported she was) 
but some infidel fellows suspected the facts and investigated and ex- 
posed the tricks; otherwise the credulous public would have re- 
ported him a great man indeed. Water, fire and love are great 
blessings, yet they can be changed so to be of great injury. So 
with magnetism. 



192 A SINGULAR PHENOMENON. 

When we rightly use these elements it gives pleasure and buoy- 
ancy ot spirits that we may cultivate and "laugh and grow fat," or 
if we use it in anger or fear, it may affect our blood, cause the bile 
to go to the vital parts and injure us. By all means keep in a good 
humor, at least till you are fit to die. 

"Anger," says Dr. Trail, "will render the bile as acrid and irritat- 
ing as a full dose of calomel. Excessive fear will relax the bowels 
equal to a strong fusion of tobacco. Intense grief will arrest the 
secretions of the gastric juices as effectually as bella dona." 

An English paper. Capital and Labor, thinks that, while excessive labor, 
exposure to wet and cold, deprivation of sufficient quantities of necessary 
and wholesale food, habitual bad lodging, sloth and intemperance, are deadly 
enemies to human life, none of them are so bad as violent and ungoverned 
passions. Men and women have survived all the former, says the writer, 
and at last reached an extreme old age; but it may be safely doubted whether 
a single instance can be found of a man of violent and irascible temper, 
habitually subject to storms of ungovernable passion, who has arrived at a 
very advanced period of life. It is, therefore, a matter of the highest im- 
portance to every one desirous of preserving "a sound mind in a sound body," 
to have a special care, amid all the vicissitudes and trials of life, to maintain 
a quiet possession of his own spirit. 

Sir A. Cooper says on this subject: "Fits of anger produce a 
very irritating milk followed by griping in the infant with green 
stools." Again he says: "The following is perhaps the most 
remarkable instance on record of the effect of strong mental excite- 
ment on the mammary secretions: 'A carpenter fell into a quarrel 
with a soldier in his house and was set upon by the latter with his 
dragoon sword. The wife of the carpenter at first trembled from 
fear and terror, and then suddenly threw herself furiously between 
the combatants, wrested the sword from the soldier's hand, broke 
it in pieces and threw it away. During the tumult some neighbors 
came in and separated the men. While in this state of strong excite- 
ment the mother took up her child from the cradle where it lay 
playing, and in the most perfect health, never having had a 
moment's illness. She gave it the breast, and in so doing sealed 
its fate. In a few moments the infant left off sucking, became 
restless, panted, and sunk dead upon its mother's bosom. The 
physician who was instantly called in, found the child lying in the 
cradle as if asleep and with its features undisturbed, but all his 
resources were fruitless. It was irrecoverably gone.'" In this 
interesting case the milk must have undergone a powerful sedative 
action upon the susceptible nervous system of the infant. 



A SINGULAR PHENOMENON. 193 

Parents should take warning from these things, and not let their 
angry passions rise, and also of the abuse of their sacred relation 
as tfuch; or the frequent fear of a drunken husband will either pro- 
duce similar results, slowly and surely, it may be, and have it 
charged to other things, but the virus is there to accomplish its 
result in time; occasionally idiocy or imbecility is the result; death 
is preferable in such cases. 

Joy and health demand a life of elevated thought, with courteous 
conduct towards each other, and constant cultivation of our higher 
nature. Then it is a privilege as well as a duty to cultivate this 
God like soul power. 

Nervaura, it is believed, radiates from the cerebellum — the lower 
back brain — which seems to be the crucible for refining the oxygen, 
hydrogen, etc., taken into the lungs; first in its ruder state, par- 
tially modified there, then goes to the cerebellum. 

Psycharura is the name given by Dr. Babett to the soul atmos 
phere that emanates from the cerebrum — front top brain — a more 
refined crucible, that again works over the better qualities of the 
nervaura of the cerebellum. This psycharura is so subtile that it can 
move through matter in all directions, and does not need the nerve 
channels as its telegraphic wires, as does the nervaura. 

This soul atmosphere, being the most refined aura, is able to 
control all the coarser, if you will it to do so. Thus the higher 
nature of man should hold the reins of this earthly tabernacle, 
and any one awake to their own personal interest or of their fellow 
beings will do so with an earnestness that will be seen by others. 
You may use this higher soul aura to cast out seven or more devils, 
if they are ill habits, health or sin; and please allow me to remind 
you that the violation of natural law, bringing poor health, by bad 
habits, is as truly sin as the violation of the decalogue. 

Distance seems to be no barrier to this soul energizing power, as 
you may have heard, in relation to answer of prayer. Dr. J. R. 
Newton, who was born in 1810, is shown to have exercised the power 
of healing almost from childhood. For the past twenty years he 
has been busy treating the poor without money and without price, 
thousands of them, and spends largely of what he makes off the 
rich for the benefit of the poor. He is truly a remarkable man, as 
appears from his portrait. " He treats and cures at great dis- 
tances," says Dr. Babett. "Mrs. Nathan Rowdy, of Fulton, N. 
Y., had been bedridden for three years. Her husband called upon 
Dr. Newton at Syracuse, N. Y. , where he was lecturing, and stated 

13 



194: A SINGULAR PHENOMENON. 

the case. The doctor told him to fasten his thoughts upon his wife, 
and then threw a shock which went through her body as from an 
electric battery; at that same moment she was restored to health, 
arose and dressed herself. She afterward testified to these facts in 
a public congregation at Oswego. • 

" At another time, while at Newport, R. I., he threw a shock 
upon the babe of Hon. Charles E. Perry, at Worcester, Mass., and 
immediately it opened its eyes, smiled, and was well. It had been 
given up to die." 

Dr. Newton says: " While in Boston I received a telegram from 
F. C. Plasted, of Gardner, stating: 

Baby is very sick, do all you can to save it. 
" I immediately sat down and wrote: 

Boston, 7:45 p. m. 

I this instant throw my life forces to the child, and he is cured. He will 
smile and go into a profuse state of perspiration. 

" A letter in answer stated that the child had been unconscious 
for forty-eight hours, but at that very instant he smiled, broke out 
into a profuse perspiration and was cured." 

The doctor modestly says: " What I do others can do." 

In ancient times such men were worshiped. These soul forces 
and the magnetic touch, according to accounts, were used success- 
fully by iEsculapius Empedocles in 444 B. C, and Appolonius in 
70 B. C, and so wonderful were the cures wrought by them that 
they were worshiped as gods. Galen and Hippocrates also did 
wonders in the same manner; in those days the healers were few, 
but now they are becoming numerous, and there is no thought of 
worshiping them. I find you and I may use it as natural as the air 
we breathe, for the good of humanity if we will. 

The Christian minister, if he would imitate Christ, should be at 
least the exemplary doctor or teacher of these things, for the cap- 
able worthy ones among them possess largely of these good quali- 
ties in their make up. Again, "if they would eat about twice as 
long and about half as much," as said by an eminent doctor, and leave 
off all that is hurtful and teach their congregations more about nat- 
ural law, and the results of violating it, their sermons would be 
more practical in every day life, and thus ennoble humanity and 
their religion, and be more like the Master. 

Pain is a merciful warning that we have violated law, as in sick- 
ness, unnatural stupor or buoyance, take warning. 



CULTIVATING QUALITIES. 195 

HOW TO HAVE GOD ON TOUR SIDE. 

Harmony, with law, your companion and neighbors, are grand 
things if they are all right. If not, and you know it, it is your 
privilege, under our constitution, to try to correct the wrong if 
you have "moral backbone" enough to do so. Be sure you are 
right then you are well armed. Then have the true character of 
manhood and do it, and you will have a true, good God on your 
side in the outcome, and that is good harmony. Harmony in soul 
and body is essential in the magnetic healer to the best success. 
Of all men he should be, or cultivate to be, one of the most purely 
healthy body, mind and spirit among men, though others may do 
great good. 

Quality, though the coarse may do good among the masses, yet 
the best success is attained by those of the very best quality. 

Temperament has a good deal to do in this matter as to the best 
success, I think, but they are of such various grades it would take 
a small volume to recount them and their effects. 

CULTIVATING QUALITIES. 

The mental and motive may be two extremes, that would make 
themselves felt quickly, and be excellent in arrousing up some 
cases; again they may be very near allied together and be quite 
harmonious. The vital temperament, I think, should slightly pre- 
dominate over the othei two, if either. The mental must not be 
lacking, in any sense, to make the best practitioner. 

Hope should be large to make them sanguine of success. They 
should be firm and self-respectful, with force and will power to 
make them energetic and tenacious, sympathetic and agreeable, 
really cheerful, with a bouncing buoyancy of the vital aura, that 
makes them feel good. If you lack good, clean habits, cultivate 
them till you get there if it takes you the first hundred years you 
live here to do so. Don't stop for age if you lose the shell by the 
way. Still be firm and enjoy things as they pass and be able with 
Arch-Bishop Leighton to look back on the past with pride. 

Stern o'er each bosom reasou holds her state, 

With daring aims irregularly great. 

Pride in their past, defiance in their eye, 

I see the lords of human kind pass by, 

Intent on high designs, a thoughtful band, 

By forms unfashioned, fresh from nature's hand; 

Fierce in their nature, hardiness of soul, 

True to imagin'd right, above control, 

While even the peasant boasts these rights to scan, 

And learns to venerate himself as man. 



196 TREATING DISEASES. 

TREATING DISEASES. 

I cannot go into details, but if you purpose to get information or 
follow it you should see Dr. Babett's Health Guide, Dr. Dods' lec- 
tures, Dr. J. R Buchanan's Anthropology. In a general way treat 
by making passes from the vitals to the extremities, you may do 
good and be developing your magnetic power. 

Some healers use but little water, but experience teaches me that 
they both should be used freely, as stated in directions how to treat, 
at the close of the article on water. 

Sincerely believing this chapter will do you good if you study 
and practice it; with Heaven's blessing on your effort, I wish you 
to remember this is one of the things that where there is a will 
there is a way. But soul science is further shown in the article on 
Angels. 

Though troubles perplex you, 

Dishearten and vex you, 
Retarding your progress in sombre array; 

To shrink with terror 

Is surely an error, 
For where there's a will there's a way. 

The task may be teasing, 

The duty unpleasing, 
But he who confronts it will soon win the day; 

Half the battle is over 

When once we discover 
That where there's a will there's a way. 

Misfortunes uncounted 

Are often surmounted, 
If only we quit not the field in dismay; 

Then one more endeavor, • 

Remembering ever 
That where there's a will there's a way. 



CHAPTEK VII. 

I began this period under more favorable circumstances than for 
several years. I was doing reasonably well on my cot and, having 
studied and practiced hygienic habits as far as I could. Another 
thing that helped me at this time was, by the aid of our Senator, 
Dr. M. A. Dashielld, I secured through an act of the State legisla- 
tors, a refund of eight hundred and fifty dollars to me on a hundred 
and sixty acres of land the State had sold from me on a school 
fund mortgage of one hundred and fifty dollars; they sold the land 
for some twelve hundred; it was worth about sixteen hundred dol- 
lars, but I could not help myself and was thankful for the refund. 
It helped me to pay my honest debts and fix my house comfortable. 
Being on my cot I attended the county fair and made two trips to 
Des Moines by railroad. I got along quite well so I concluded to 
take 

A TRIP TO OHIO. 

I voted at the October election and started to Ohio to visit brother 
and attend to some business and see if there was any relief for me 
there or at the infirmary at Indianapolis. I went by myself as I 
could not afford to pay another's passage and trusted to Providence 
and hiring where it was necessary and to the good people along the 
road for help, hanging my valise on the under side of my cot, and 
struck out in the world on wheels, by my faith in humanity. Frank 
and Johnny went to Des Moines with me. The next halt was at 
Keokuk, then at Springfield, 111, where I staid two days to attend 
the 

DEDICATION OF THE LINCOLN MONUMENT. 

When I was set out, of course I hired a man to take me to the 
hotel a half mile away. I had hardly got started when the sympa- 
thetic and curious multitude run in from all directions to see the 
show and crowded about me so close and asked questions as to how 
I came to be so till we could not get along the walk till the police 
came to my relief, and opened the way, as they had to do all the 
way, and one of them pushed me along. I felt quite safe in their 



198 LINCOLN MONUMENT. 

hands though never had been taken in charge by officers before. 
I am not sure but I took the "laurels" from Grant and Sherman 
when they came round in the show business. Had myself put into 
a wagon so that I could see something. 




The city was beautifully decorated with arches over the streets, 
with inscriptions appropriate, and the national bunting in abund- 
ance. But the greatest natural curiosity I seen there was a live 
snake with two perfect heads. It was thought to be an ader, about 
a foot in length. The man had found and caught it south of the 
city, had it in a large glass jar. Each head had a neck about an 
inch long, the four bright eyes watched any hand put toward them. 
The tongues and mouths would go snake fashion with a hissing 
noise, the color principally yellow with brownish tinge on the back. 

The procession was a grand affair as they marched the streets, 
the city overflowing with people from all over the government, if 
not abroad. The great leaders of the nation was the curiosity as 
the procession moved out a mile northeast to the location of the 
monument. It is a fine marble structure. 

Powers, in his "Life of Lincoln," gives the following description : 

"The ground plan of the Lincoln monument is 119% feet from north to 
south; 72% feet from east to west. The lower story, containing the crypt 
and memorial hall, is sixteen feet in height; the top of this lower story 
forms a magnificent granite-paved promenade, from the center of which the 
shaft rises to a height of ninety-five feet, seventeen feet square at the base, 
tapering to an apex eight feet square. The opening in the shaft is six feet 
in diameter, and a spiral stiarway leads to the summit. At either corner of 
the shaft a round pedestal twenty -eight feet high is surmounted by group of 
statuary. On the south face of the obelisk, on a pedestal seven 
feet higher than the round corner pedestals, stands the statue of Mi\ 
Lincoln. The pedestral bearing this statue has inserted in it a bronze shield 



LINCOLN MONUMENT. 199 

in bass relief— the coat of arms of the United States it is seen at first sight 
but close scrutiny discovers that part of the stars are obscured, the olive 
branches lie beneath it, and the eagle holds a part of the sundered chain of 
slavery in his talons, while a part is held aloft in his beak. The coat-of- 
arms typifiies the constitution of the United States, on which Mr. Lincoln 
stood, with authority for using the four arms of the war power of the 
government to hold together the states, which are represented by linked 
tablets surrounding the great monumental pile. There is nothing visible on 
the exterior of the monument but granite and bronze, and the effect is 
massive and rich. 

In visiting the burial chamber the custodian, at your request, unlocks the 
door and enters with you, or, if desired, leaves you alone with the dead. 
You find yourself in a marble room, in the center of which stands the sar- 
cophagus, of sculptured marble, bearing the name "A. Lincoln." In the 
rear wall of the chamber are the niches where members of his family are 
laid. You can walk entirely around the president's marble casket, and the 
effect its position gives of room and light and air is very grateful to the 
living friends who visit it. The casket is kept covered with fresh flowers, 
and standing by it you can look out of the door upon the grass below the sill 
and the dense oak boughs of the hills beyond. 

Gen. Ogleshy made the dedicatory speech. General, then Presi- 
dent Grant and other leading citizens pronounced eulogies upon 
the lamented Lincoln. Then the dedicatory prayer was made and 
the bust c 'unveiled. " It was covered with the American flag. I 
was there with my cot set in a wagon, so did not get to go into the 
fine rooms in the basement in the center of which the honored man's 
body is entombed. 

I was at his dwelling house in the city as I returned from the 
army. It was a plain, neat frame building, two stories high, some 
five or six good rooms below. He was born in Kentucky, February 
12, 1809; shot April 14, 1865. To give you some idea of him as a 
boy, I copy from the Louisville Courier- Journal : 

Lincoln's early life was spent in Spencer county, Indiana, above Rockport, 
a beautiful little city erowning the abrupt cliffs which frown over the 
Ohio river. He was faithful and industrious, but there was in him a latent 
indolence which made him fond of taking his rod to fish, or, with his gun 
upon his shoulder, he would roam in search of game over the long, low hills 
There are living at present several old citizens who knew Lincoln well at 
that time. He was thoughtful, and his solitary expeditions probably gave 
him plenty of opportunity to indulge his meditative faculties. The descrip- 
tion of his appearance then ; his long, lank legs under an awkward body ; his 
homely face upon which thepromient nose stood like a handle; his long hair 
dangling upon his shoulders, bring up instantly the picture of Ichabod Crane 
in the twilight stealing over the hills of Sleepy Hollow to pay his court to 
Fraulein Katrina Von Tassel. 

The embryo statesman was full of spirit and fond of mad pranks. One 
old gentleman in Rockport lives to tell of the last time he saw Lincoln. He 



200 THE OLD KENTUCKY BABE. 

was visiting the Lincoln homestead, and as he was coming away they found 
a trespassing cow hanging about the gate. The cow had given the Lincolns 
much annoyance by entering their garden and committing depredations. 
Young Abe was dressed in a suit of jeans, without any coat, as it was sum- 
mer time, and on his head he wore a broad-brimed white straw hat, part of 
which was cracked and broken. Finding the cow standing hypocritically 
meek at the gate, young Abe leaped astride of her back, and, digging his 
bare heels into her sides, the astonished animal broke away down the road 
in a lumbering gallop. "The last I saw of Abe Lincoln," the old gentleman 
relates fondly, "he was swinging his hat, shouting at the top of his voice, 
galloping down the road on that thundestruck cow." 

In the Old country church near the Lincoln place is a pulpit which was 
made by Abe Lincoln and his father. There is a bookcase in theEvansville 
Custom-House made by the same carpenters and taken there for preserva- 
tion. Near where the old house stood is a dilapidated corn-crib with rail 
floor, the rails for which were split by young Lincoln. Last fall a monu- 
ment was raised over Nancy Lincoln's grave through the efforts of General 
Veatch, of Roekport. It is a plain slab with a plain inscription. 

The following campaign song written by one of our good citizens, 
Mr. J. Chappell Clarke, will give you an idea of the spirit of the 
campaign of I860, when honest Abraham Lincoln was made Pres- 
ident: 

THE OLD KENTUCKY BABE. 

In a green and fertile valley 

On the old Kentucky show, 

Years ago there was born a precious babe 

Now he's grown to manly stature, 

And he's six feet high or more, 

And he's called by the people honest abe. 

chorus: 

Then hurrah for Honest Abe, 

For the old Kentucky babe, 
For we're going to make him president this fall; 

He will swing our country back, 

On its old accustomed track, 
Just as easy as he used to swing his maul. 

Once he canvassed it with Stephen 

In the state of Illinois, 

And he made the Little Giant very sore, 

For his sham squatter doctrine 

Was decided by the boys, 

To be but a twaddle and a bore. 

Of unfriendly legislation 

'Dug" declaims at Freeport, 

Then at Orleans he stands for planters' rights ( ?) 

Behind the Dred Scott decision 

And the great Federal Court, 

On his belly like a coward next he fights. 



THE OLD KENTUCKY BABE. 201 

Now a groan for little Steve, 

None his doctrine can believe; 

To the South for aid all vainly he will call; 

Ah! little he'll rejoice, 

When he hears the people's voice, 

Making Abe to be our president this fall. 

The grandest monument to him is that stamped on the people's 
minds by his faithful public record and tragic death, so sublimely 
portrayed by the Hon. Emlio Castler, one of the few noble, pro- 
gressive men of Spain (I wish she had more such). The following 
will show the dimensions of the great orator, scholar and republi- 
can statesman. He says of President Lincoln: 

I have often contemplated and described his life. Born in a cabin of 
Kentucky, of parents who could hardly read; born a new Moses in the soli- 
tude of the desert where are forged the great and obstinate thoughts, moun- 
tainous like the desert, and like the desert sublime. Growing up like the 
primeval forests, which with their fragrance send a cloud of incense, and 
with their murmurs a cloud of prayers to heaven, a boatman at eight years 
in the impetuous current of the Ohio, and at seventeen in the vast tranquil 
waters of the Mississippi, later a woodman with his ax and arm felling the 
immortal trees to open a way to unexplored regions for his tribe of wander- 
ing workers; reading no other book than the Bible, the book of great sor- 
rows and of great hopes, dictated often by prophets to the sound of the fet- 
ters they dragged through Ninevah and Babylon; a child of nature, in a 
word, by one of those miracles only comprehensible among free people, he 
fought for the country, and was raised by his fellow citizens to the Congress 
of Washington, and by the nation to the presidency of the republic; and 
when the evil grew more virulent, when those States were dissolved, when 
the slaveholders uttered their war-cry and the slaves their groans of despair 
—the woodcutter, the boatman, the son of the great West, the descendant 
of Quakers, humblest of the humblest before his conscience, greatest of the 
great before history, ascends the Capitol, the greatest moral height of our 
time, and strong and severe with his conscience and with his thought, 
before him a veteran army, behind him hostile Europe — England favoring 
the South, France encouraging reaction in Mexico — in his hands the riven 
country; he armed two million of men, gathers half a million horses, sends 
his artillery 1,200 miles in a week from the banks of the Potomac to the 
shores of Tennessee; fights more than six hundred battles; renews before 
Richmond the deeds of Alexander, of Caesar; and after having emancipated 
3,000,000 slaves, that nothing might be wanting, he dies at the very moment 
of victory— like Christ, like Socrates, like all redeemers, at the foot of his 
work. His work! Sublime achievement! over which humanity shall eter- 
nally shed its tears and God his benedictions. 



202 VISITING MY BROTHER. 

o, captain! my captain! 

BY WALT WHITMAN. 

A war-time poet. He died March, 1892, at seventy-three years. 

[The following, generally admitted Dy critical readers as being his best single con- 
tribution to American poetry, was Whitman's tribute to Abraham Lincoln, and was 
written directly after Mr. Lincoln's death, April 15, 1865.] 

O Captain! my Captain ! our fearful trip is done; 
The ship has weathered every rock, the prize we sought is won: 
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting. 
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; 
But O heart! heart! heart! 

O the bleeding drops of red, 
Where on the deck my Captain lies, 
Fallen cold and dead ! 

O Captain! my Captain: rise up and hear the bells; 
Rise up— for the flag is flung, for you the bugle thrills ; 
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths, for you the shores acrowding; 
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; 
Here Captain! dear father! 

This arm beneath your head — 
It is some dream that on the deck 
You've fallen cold and dead! 

My Captain does not answer ; his lips are pale and still ! 
My father does not feel my arm, he has nor pulse nor will; 
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage is closed and done; 
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won ; 
Exult, O shores! and ring, O bell! 
But I, with mourning tread, 
Walk the deck where my Captain, 
Fallen cold and dead. 

Whitman's own "Death Carol:" 

Let me glide noiselessly forth; 

With the key of softness unlock the locks— with a whisper. 

Set open the doors, O soul. 

Tenderly, be not impatient, 

Strong is your hand, O mortal flesh. 

Strong is your hold, O love. 

VISITING MY BEOTHEK. 

The dedication over, I started on a journey by way of Indian- 
apolis, where I had to change cars in the night; on my arrival 
there, and after waiting some time, a half-dozen big, strong hands 
came and carried me around the cars and over the tracks very 
nicely, and safely landed me in the next car. Arriving at Cincin- 
nati I employed an expressman to take me to the places where I 
had business to transact, and finally to the Miami depot, at the end 



VISITING MY BROTHER. 203 

of the great wire bridge which spans the Ohio river at this point; it 
is an interesting sight, but they are becoming numerous. 

I went forth expecting to surprise my brother and family at 
Xenia, Ohio, but they had heard of my purpose, from other sources; 
however, I arrived there without any mishap, but the trip taxed my 
nerves to the fullest extent, and it is a wonder to me now that they 
did not collapse. Everything was so cheerful and pleasant that it 
kept me on a "boom," consequently the let-down was not sudden. 
My brother commands a good salary from his church, occupies a 
nice parsonage, and with the companionship of sister Anna, who 
knows just how to make home happy, neat and comfortable, he can 
provide in a manner to make the world enjoyable in the highest 
degree. Two Presbyterian ministers, relatives of sister, were also 
visiting them. 

This is a United Presbyterian stronghold, and all the ministers 
in the city frequently met in my brother's yard to play croquet, 
or "Presbyterian billiards" as some choose to call it, and even in 
the absence of my brother, when out on pastoral duties, they would 
have a splendid time. This seemed to be a social headquarters for 
preachers, and in their playing would never say bad words, oh, no, 
but when warmed up would become terribly in earnest at times. 
I feel that such associations are productive of good, and I enjoy 
them very much, feeling that they have a tendency to break down 
the u partition wall" between Christian churches. Fifty years ago, 
or less, there seemed to be " mountains " between them, and the 
membership would throw u bomb-shells " at each other with all the 
powder and brimstone they could raise, but as time passed they lost 
their force. Finding they had dug all the gold, silver and fuel 
out of the mountain between them it became hollow, and when 
slightly pressed on each side, caved in, leaving only a mole hill 
between. Thus something has been gained, and every now and 
then two, three or more different denominations build church 
edifices together, to be used alternately, but occasionally that mole 
hill comes to the front and calls forth discord and dissatisfaction, 
as is fitly illustrated in the following incident: Three different 
societies built a church together, and got into a wrangle over it; 
after a high rate of contention for some time one of the pastors 
in going to the church to preach passed under a hickorynut tree, 
when the thought came to him that he had struck a fitting repre- 
sentation of the three societies; he picked up a dark colored, worth- 
less nut to represent one society, and another not quite so bad, with 



204 VISITING MY BROTHER. 

a worm hole in it, to represent the other sociely, and selected a fine 
looking, large one, to represent his society. 

Now, I will not give the names of the societies, so you can all 
claim the best nut if you like. It is the mole hill I am trying to 
remove. He got to the church, preached his discourse, finally 
bringing up the church trouble; to fitly represent the matter he pro- 
ceeded to crack the dark nut to represent one society, and it was very 
rotten; the one with a worm hole in it was cracked to represent the 
other; it, too, was very hollow; he then very jubilantly showed them 
a fine, large, clean looking one to represent their society, and pro- 
ceeded with some flourish to crack it, no doubt intending to eat the 
meat, but it proved to have three large, white worms in it. Then 
I left. 

Little motes in the eye frequently cause great trouble. It is 
frequently a dogmatic term in some old creed or discipline that is 
adhered to only as a bigot can, in place of a natural, common sense 
principle, and their old, thread bare subjects kept before the people 
till they are glad of any reasonable excuse to go somewhere else. 

We need a practical, every day religion that will make us more 
pure, practical workers; that the poor neighbor, sick and afflicted, 
will feel the benefit of. I know there are men that live so much 
by faith that they never do another a favor, unless they think it 
will come back four fold. Such men may call on the sick to keep 
up appearance, but they are not the kind to look after their com- 
fort, help the helpless, encourage the poor, discouraged, weak saint 
or sinner; the poor orphan may cry with cold or for bread; he has 
so much faith in God to provide for even the poor raven, that he 
can coop himself in his mustard shell, and there lives very well, 
trusting very contentedly to let the non-professor show his faith 
by his works; and they so frequently do it that the time will cer- 
tainly come, to say, "inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of one 
of these my brethren ye did it unto me. " Christ's glorious example 
in good works, followed, is all the way to make a practical Christian; 
he did not give assurance that you could live by faith alone, but 
said, "the works I do, ye shall do also and greater works, for I go 
to the father." 

A little practical living, religion and good work, will remove the 
mole hills between the churches and between them and the people. 

True progressive culture in harmony with natural law, m place 
of some body's make of creed, will soon remove the imaginary 
differences. To do this let the traditional sermon be modified into 
lectures on practical every day affairs, and bring about a hygienic 



VISITING MY BROTHER. 205 

condition of body and morals in every society, and especially 
make our homes pure, loving, cultured nurseries, to give the child- 
ren a start for a useful life here and a grand future in higher 
spheres in the great future. Then make your home a paradise 
here and you may be the savior of your own children. If you 
don't they may need other saviors to keep them from a downward 
course. But one parent cannot often do this when the other is 
always out of tune, fretting, scolding, whining, complaining, and 
only has a pleasant face for the visitor. This indigestive condition 
in the provider or queen, is a discouraging element that is too com- 
mon. The pure, queenly mother that has the most healthy, vigor- 
ous, well trained children, has more to be proud of than the highest 
officer of the nation. 

Motherhood is the highest office in God's kingdom. Then let 
the churches concentrate their efforts in promoting this result in our 
homes; not follow proselyting so much — the paying members — to 
the neglect of the weighty matters among the needy masses. Then 
we will come nearer loving our neighbor society as our own, and 
come nearer following Christ, who did not found a church but done 
good work. Then do as you would wish to be done by and the 
mole hills will vanish, and doctrines founded on the traditions of 
men pass for naught. 

While at my brother's I made arrangements to have a cot made 
there for Miss Jennie Smith, of Dayton, spoken of elsewhere. 
After staying two weeks and hearing brother preach a good prac- 
tical sermon, and enjoying a splendid good visit with them, I 
wanted very much to have gone on to our old home in Meggs 
county and visit sister and the old neighbors, but they lived too far 
from the railroad and river, so came through Dayton to the Indian- 
apolis Surgical Institute. 

You have probably heard it said misery loves company. We had 
an over dose of it there, hundreds of poor deformed cripples of 
every description, some being greatly benefited. Where a 
surgical operation is needed it is no doubt one of the best — equally 
good, where a mechanical arrangement is needed. The deformed 
that is young and growing should go there and be worked over. 
I saw many cheerful faces from the improvement and prospects 
there. If you are disposed to complain, go there as I did and you 
will probably find you are not in the worst condition possible. It 
is truly a remarkable sight to see from two to three hundred 
deformed people of every kind around the many tables at an invit- 
ing Sunday dinner, those that could not even be helped there, were 



206 VISITING MY BROTHEK. 

many, yet among the groans of the suffering there was much cheery 
laughing and music that cheered the heart of even the disconsolate. 

But in my case, two of these doctors could see no remedy for me 
"unless they could send in a Dutchman to push my backbone out 
straight and hold it there/' I was too much Dutch for that and 
came home and "located." All the "black sheep" I found among 
conductors on my circuit was a little wart of a fellow on the 
roughest piece of road I was on, from Indianapolis to Peoria, 
Illinois. Pie charged me as a passenger and as freight, when I 
went as freight in a rough old box car without the least assist- 
ance or attention. No other conductor charged me on the trip, but 
assisted and treated me like a gentleman, as did the people everywhere, 
never lacking for assistance elsewhere on the trip. There not being 
room for me in the coaches, I went in the baggage, express and 
postal cars at various places and got along very well but did not 
travel at night coming home, stayed all night at a hotel in Burling- 
ton and Des Moines, hence got home, better than going east, but 
the trip altogether had materially worsted my nerves, it being too 
far at one trip in my case. 

But I really enjoyed the scenery and change, as I also did in 
1882, in Marshall county, Iowa, of which the Marshalltown Times- 
Republican, of September 19, contains the following: 

Mr. A. W. Richards, of Indianola, Iowa, a helpless crippled union soldier 
on a movable cot, has been making a two weeks' visit about Le Grand with 
his venerable old uncle, Roland Richards, and cousins Eli and Elisha Rich- 
ards, and Mrs. Inman, Hanegan, McCool and others. On Thursday last was 
the invalid's birthday, and it was appropriately celebrated by some forty 
persons at the residence of David Inman. It was very enjoyable and highly 
appreciated by the recipient of the many tokens of love. 

Yet a true home is the place after all. 

"Home's not merely four square walls, 
Though with pictures hung and gilded; 

Home is where affection calls, 
Filled with shrines the heart has builded. 

Home's not merely roof and room, 

It needs something to endear it ; 
Home is where the heart can bloom. 

Where there's love and help to cheer it." 

"tear down" tragedy. 

While our town and county have been noted for good morals, 
good schools, home and society, yet we have had two tragedies that 
became known all over the country that would seem to contradict 



IKAB DOWN TRAGEDY. 207 

it. Before giving you a brief account of the above tragedy allow 
me to say the first fatal affray in the county was in August, 1864, 
between James Neeley and Patrick Cassidy, both considered good, 
peaceable citizens. The trouble was Neeley's stock hogs had got 
into Cassidy's field of corn several times and been dogged out by 
the latter. Neeley threatened to shoot the dogs. Hearing them 
after the hogs he went down; both the men met there armed, and 
under the excitement of the moment, leveled their guns and 
fired at each other. Cassidy was shot through the body and killed, 
Neeley was wounded in the left hand slightly, and was afterward 
sent to the penitentiary for fifteen years, served part of the time 
and was pardoned. 

Both did wrong in carrying their guns at such a time and both 
suffered the penalty. We have law to protect each other without 
violence in such cases. Take warning, don't let your angry pas- 
sions rise. I have no doubt if either one had left his gun at home 
the other would have been safe personally. 

The "Tear down" tragedy occurred February 19, 1876, close to 
the Christian church, in Greenfield township in which three stout, 
hearty young men lost their lives. I have some general knowledge 
of both parties, but will aim to give the essence of the evidence 
deduced on two different trials. Rueben Westfall and David 
Howry were neighbors, both passionate, if not ill-tempered men, 
and some ten to twelve years before this occurence they had fallen 
out about some suspected wrong between them that had never been 
proven or rectified. 

They continued to quarrel and fight more or less during these 
years, and their sons trained up by the feelings of the parents, not 
in the way they should go, took up the gauntlet and would do as 
the parents set them an example to do. The Howry party being 
the largest and stoutest young men were generally the accusing 
party and the aggressors and also generally came out conquerers 
in their many fights, so they became rather boastiul, so that if the 
Westfalls went to a party or meeting there was likely to be trouble. 

While both parties were good looking, spirited young men of fair 
qualities, aside from this training } r et I think the neighborhood were 
more in sympathy with the Westfall side. One of the young 
Howry's used insulting language to Ben Westfall when he was 
with a young lady, that was endured for the time. Mr. George 
Dillards sons being friendly with the Westfalls, made the Howrey's 
their enemies, so they became involved in the fuss. These difficul- 
ties as I take it gave the name "Tear down" to the church, not a 



208 TEAR DOWN TRAGEDY. 

very desirable name certainly for a church, but they had been hold- 
ing a protracted meeting for some time, both parties wanting to 
attend, so the Westfall side armed themselves with revolvers and 
one dirk knife to be prepared for any emergency. This part}*- con- 
sisting of Benjamin and Levi, Westfall and Thomas, Jack and 
Fremont DiUard, all young men and some younger ones along. 
The Howry party consisting of David Howry and his sons George 
and John and an Irish friend, James Groom, all stout young men. 
These were the parties that fatal night. Before they got a fourth of 
a mile, from the church — as they all went the same road — The 
father Howry got into a quarrel and fight with Tom Dillard in the 
crowd, both parties rushed up and began a general engagement 
and some fifteen to twenty shots were fired that made a scattering 
of the crowd. When it ceased, men run up and found that George 
Howry had fallen dead in his tracks, "caused by a wound under 
the shoulder blade, made with a knife, which had entered the left 
lung." 

John Howry, stabbed in the left side of the spinal column, 
walked about forty feet when he fell against a tree and died in a 
few minutes. The father, David Howry, was shot in the upper 
lip, the ball passing through the upper jaw; he was also shot 
through the left ear, and received a cut on the eyebrow; these were 
all the bullet wounds found; he got well. James Groom was found 
to be stabbed above and to the right of the breast bone, the knife 
having entered the right lung, and a stab in the back entered the 
left lung; he lingered nearly a week. He said Ben Westfall 
stabbed him, and it is thought he did all the work that proved so 
fatal. 

Some of the witnesses testified that James Groom, said as he 
went into the fight: "We are here this night for the purpose of 
settling this fuss, and this is as good a time as any to settle it." 
But oh, what a settlement, after a dozen years of strife, and still it 
was not all settled yet. The Westfalls and Dillrads were not seriously 
hurt. They went to Mr. Dillards' and stayed till the next day, 
which was Sunday. At noon the sheriff went and arrested them, 
had a preliminary trial and put three of them under $15,000 bonds; 
one of the boys $5,000. The grand jury found thirty-six indict- 
ments; four apiece against nine of them, including Keuben West- 
fall, who was not there. All gave bonds but his oldest sons, Levi 
and Ben, who were taken to the penitentiary for safe keeping till 
court met six months after, then they gave bonds. All demanded 
separate trials. Three long trials found Ben and some others guilty. 



TEAR DOWN TRAGEDY. 209 

On an appeal to the supreme court the cases were returned for a 
new hearing. It was indicated in the the decision that, the defen- 
dants were not guilty according to the evidence on the self defense. 
After three years worry and heavy expense to the county, the peo- 
ple petitioned the court to throw all the cases out of court, which 
was finally done. Since that George Wheeler plead guilty of shoot- 
ing and wounding Kubin Westfall in 1890, but with the purpose of 
killing him. He also said that he was employed by David Howry 
to do it. He found a home in the penitentiary. 

This probably settles the wicked affair. No one gained anything 
good by it, unless we all are wise enough to avoid the appearance 
of such evils; even though you conquer for a while, you may suc- 
cumb; then what must be the suffering of the final victors? Take 
it as a sad warning. 

IS IT WORTH WHILE? 

Is it worth while that we jostle a brother, 

Bearing his load on the rough road of life? 
Is it worth while that we jeer at each other — 

In blackness of heart that we war to the knife? 

God pity us all in our pitiful strife. 

God pity us all as we jostle each other; 

God pardon us all for the trinmph we feel 
When a fellow goes down 'neath his load on the heather, 

Pierced to the heart : Words are keener than steel, 

And mightier far for woe than for weal. 

Were it not well, in this brief little journey 

On over the isthmus, down into the tide, 
We give him a fish instead of a serpent, 

Ere folding the hands to be and abide 

Porever and aye in dust at his side ? 

Look at the roses saluting each other; 

Look at the herds all at peace on the plain- 
Man, and man only, makes war on his brother, 
And laughs in his heart at his peril and pain- 
Shamed by the beasts that go down on the plain. 

Is it worth while that we battle to humble 

Some poor fellow down into the dust? 
God pity us all ! Time oft soon will tumble 

All of us together, like leaves in gust, 

Humbled, indeed, down into the dust. 

—Joaquin Miller, 



U 



210 MURDER AND HUNG. 



MURDER AND HUNG. 



Again we were made to blush with shame for our county, and 
sorrow at the thought of a brave young lady, being murdered by 
robbers, October 30, 1877, Miss Agusta Coding. Her father was 
supposed to have considerable money, and it was thought would 
bring home more that evening. He had not yet returned, at that 
time, early in the evening, when three masked men appeared at 
the door; one stepped in and made his demand of the young lady; 
her mother was sick in bed, but she proceeded to put him out and 
Was shot;" another one of them said, " there, take that;" she recog- 
nized his voice as that of a neighbor. The next morning, bright 
and early, he came, with others, and was very anxious to get on 
the trail of the murderers, and was very careful in examining the 
masks that had been thrown on the ground to find hair in them; he 
found some but quickly threw it on the ground and claimed it was 
another color, but all that got glimpses of it called it black; he 
denied it, causing suspicion to rest on him at once, and he soon had 
business elsewhere. Further evidence was developed that made it 
evident that he was one of them; in fact, he had been very much 
interested in the old farmer's affairs for several days, when it was 
thought of; he was also known as a horse thief and had slipped the 
law more than once, and was supposed to belong to a band of rob- 
bers. And now, soon after this, neighbor Eeuben Proctor was 
arrested at Des Moines, brought to Indianola and lodged in jail. 
November 12th, the jail was attacked by a mob of one hundred 
vigilants from the vicinity of his home, but could not get the keys 
nor batter down the jail door. After three hour's effort and the 
persuasion of our citizens they left. There was great excitement, 
and other men in the jail said Proctor fainted. 

Three days later he was taken to near home in Belmont township 
for trial. The evidence left no reasonable doubt in his favor, but 
more and more against him. Miss Cading was still breathing, but 
near her last; the officers went to her and took her evidence. 
They passed over to another house and took supper. While at the 
table some of the party remarked to Procter, ' 'eat hearty. " ' 'Why, " 
replied Procter, "do you think it will be my last." The sheriff's 
party replied, "No," they did not think it would be, but it might 
be. The crowd had disappeared but it was suspected not for good, 
for there had been some very quiet business like movements before. 
Officers were intimated to, to keep quiet and they would be all 
right. Supper over at seven o'clock, the sheriff's posse started to 



KATE SHELLY. 



211 



the justice's office with the prisoners; a few steps away a large 
company of the vigilants took hold of the officers, and a rope was 
put over Proctor's head and he lead away to where there was a pair 
of cattle scales where the rope was thrown over a beam and Proc- 
ter suspended by the neck and guarded long enough to be dead. 

Sheriff Meek notified Procter's parents and wife of the facts, the 
body was then cut down, a coroner's inquest held, and a verdict 
according to the facts, "the parties unknown to them. The mob's 
excuse for this violence was that the law had been too slack with 
him and others, that he had been a terror to the neighborhood long 
enough and as it was a plain case and he then belonged in the pen- 
itentiary properly if he had his dues, they would run no further 
risk of his getting away. His wife has since told all about the 
making of the masks, etc. 

It was the first thing of the kind in this section of the country, 
and it is to be hoped it will be the last disgrace of the kind that 
will ever mar our community. 

This is wrong in principle if it is the old "eye for eye, and tooth 
for tooth" doctrine, such teaching has done the world harm. If 
we are firm let us be merciful and not make mistakes and do wrong 
because some one elseJias with bad raising and habits. Cultivate 
your children fcomalfe them better. 




KATE SHELLY THE HEROINE. 



The Iowa heroine came to Indianola to attend Simpson Centinary 
College in November, 1882, to cultivate her active mind at the re- 
quest of grateful people that furnished the means as a token or 



212 KATE SHELLY. 

recognition of bravery in the perilous adventure to save hundreds 
of precious lives in the midst of a terrific storm. So that the expres- 
sive features, prominent nose and energetic walk has become quite 
familiar to the good people of our quiet city. Her congenial ways, 
has given many of us a renewed interest in her, and enabled us to 
give an authentic account of her life and venture which I condense 
from authentic sources, in part from my friend Frank Taylor's 
account. 

Kate Shelly (she writes the name thus) was born September 25, 1865, at 
Roscrea, Kings county, Ireland. Her parents came to this country when 
she was three or four years old. They stopped awhile in New York and 
then came west. Her father went on railroal work, and finally became a 
section boss. It was this position rather than that of night watchman, as 
the newspaper accounts generally have it, that he occupied at the time of 
his death. About four years ago Mr. Shelly died of consumption, brought 
on by exposure Soon after this, the oldest son, a boy large enough to be 
of some help in the support of the family, was drowned in the creek near 
the house. After this Kate was burdened with a large share of the support 
of the family. Her mother had three other children, two girls and a boy, 
the oldest of them being not more than six years old. They lived on a small 
rented farm near Honey Creek, and cultivated a little patch of ground. 
Kate cut most of the wood for the family use. 

On the night of July 6, 1881, a destructive storm raged over all Northern 
and Central Iowa. Its effects in the locality in question may be judged 
from the following extract, from the account published in the Boone county 
Democrat: 

Honey Creek from Boone to Moingona is a rapid and treacherous stream, 
fed by many others of smaller size, all of which contribute to swell the 
usually unpretentious creek to the volume of a mighty river, the force of 
which was a severe test upon the strength of any structure opposing its 
course. Of the twenty-one bridges between Boone and Moingona, south- 
west a distance of five miles, eleven were destroyed or badly damaged, 
those with stone abutments alone resisting the flood. 

Two accidents made Moingona the scene of excitement and sorrow dur- 
ing the night. At this place pushers are stationed to Kelp trains over the 
steep grades east and west, and also watchmen are employed for the east 
and west sections, whose duty it is to examine the road after the passage of 
all trains, and ascertain if the track is all safe. This precaution has always 
been provided by the company as a means of guarding against accidents on 
what would otherwise be at all times a very dangerous section of the road. 
Just before the storm broke the pusher, engine No. 230, had returned from 
helping a train over the hill to Boone. During the evening railroad 
employes, with lanterns in hand, were gathered at the depot, anxiously 
discussing the alarming situation, and wondering what would be the orders, 
if any. 

Ed Wood, engineer of the pusher No. 11, received the order: "Run to 
Boone and return to Moingona, regardless of all trains." Accordingly he 
started, having with him George Olmstead, fireman; Adam Ager, brake- 
man; and Pat Donahue, section boss. 



KATE SHELLY. 213 

These men were sitting down on the tender, and Donahue was singnaling 
to me both with his voice and lantern. We had passed over the Des Moines 
river bridge near town in safety, and when reaching Honey creek, about 
one mile from the depot, I was backing slowly, and suggested an examina- 
tion. Donahue signaled *' all right, go on, the track is here, and the timbers 
all in place." We had not passed on to the bridge, as it now turns out, 
much more than twelve feet when I heard the timbers begin to crack, but 
in the darkness, with the headlight behind instead of before me, I could 
not tell just what part of the bridge I had reached; thought I was near 
the center of the stream, and might possibly make the east bank. I then 
sprang from the end of the tender, where I was standing, into the cab, and 
threw on a full head of steam. The weak place proved to be in the center 
of the bridge, directly over the main current, which we had not yet reached. 
To this point the engine leaped in a second, and down we went with an 
awful crash into twenty-five feet of surging water. I could not see the 
other men. I was in the cab when the engine struck the water, but how I 
got out I can't tell; think the cab was torn loose by the force of the cur- 
rent. I knew I could not swim, and my first thought was to guard against 
filling my lungs with water. This I succeeded in doing. The first thing I 
came in contact with I think was the tank, and my hold must have been on 
the round roll around the top. It was surging and tumbling, and finally 
threw me loose. I was then washed down stream, and when three feet 
under water struck drift wood. Here the water was about twelve feet 
deep under the drift, but I managed to hold on. I was rescued about five 
o'clock in the morning. 

Of his rescue, k Wood says his first ray of hope was when, soon after the 
crash, and he had called for help, he saw the light of Kate Shelly 's lantern 
gleaming in the dark woods. Next he saw the brave girl peering down 
from the broken timbers of the bridge into the rushing flood below, and 
calling to know who was there. He called her further down stream, and 
after a moment of hurried conversation she started on her perilous mission 
of mercy to Moingona. 

Adam Ager tells a similar story. 

Donahue and Olmstead were drowned. The body of Olmstead w as never 
recovered. 

Kate's first experience the night of the storm was in going down the hill 
to the stable, which was rapidly filling with water, and releasing their 
scanty herd of stock. Upon her return to the house, her mother says she 
was pale with anxiety, and insisted on going at once to give an alarm for 
the safety of the bridge. Her mother attempted to quiet her alarm by 
assuring her that Dennis Murphy, the section watch, would be there, but 
Kate replied, "If it was pa, I know he would be there, but it will not do to 
feel sure that any one will go." Presently she heard an engine bell give 
two weird taps, and said she knew in a moment it was No. 11. A crash 
followed, then the hissing of the hot boiler striking the water, and then 
two cries for help. In response to her mother's entreaties not to go; that 
it would be certain death to venture out in a place so dark and dangerous, 
her brave reply was: " Mother, I could never forgive myself if I did not 
make an effort to save these poor men calling for help, and the passenger 
train must be warned. I will go to Moingona, or die in the attempt." They 



214 KATE SHELLY. 

had only the globe and wire frame work of a lantern, the oil cup and 
burner being melted away, but Kate hastily improvised a light by hanging 
an old miner's lamp in the bottom of the lantern, and leaving her mother 
and little sister and brother all crying as though at a final parting, she 
started out alone in the awful tempest. 

The route was necessarily nearly a mile in length, leading in places close 
to the swollen stream, through marshes, and once into a swiftly running 
slough, out of which the girl says she came thoroughly soaked, but man- 
aged to save her light. Once she was lost in the woods, but the moment 
she found a path she knew which way to go. After a moment of consulta- 
tion with Ed Wood she left, assuring him she would bring help from Moin- 
gona. Folio wing the track, she made her way to the long, high bridge over 
the Des Moines river. This was already sweeping far beyond its banks, 
and floating debris battered against the trestles and piers. Along the high 
approaches of open timber work, and over the body of the river, thirty 
feet above its roaring current, she must make her way, stepping from tie to 
tie. A single mistep would be fatal, and to add to the horror of her terrible 
venture, just as she reached the bridge her flickering light went out, leav- 
ing her in total darkness. Providence must have guided the footsteps of 
the intrepid girl, for she made her way over in safety. Having crossed the 
bridge she soon followed the track along the embankment to the depot. 
The danger of the passenger train rushing into the yawning vortex was 
now compassed, and Kale Shelly's horrible tidings had been added to the 
sad news of O'Neal's death. 

A rescuing party was quickly gathered and started on engine 230 to the 
wreck, taking the heroine of the night with them in the cab. At the wreck 
it became necessary to reach the opposite shore. How to get there none of 
the willing men knew, but in a moment Kate was at their head, piloting 
them through the darkness by a slippery pathway through dense under- 
brush close to the edge of the sloping cliff overhanging the swollen stream. 
This took them around the letter S described by its current, and down, 
through the oats patch near her home to another bridge, crossing which the 
way to the end of the wreck opposite Moingona was easy, and the work of 
rescuing "Wood and Ager was at once begun. 

And the hour and a half passed must have been of thrilling suspense to 
all, but right nobly had Kate Shelly done her work. For the purpose of 
saving imperiled lives she had made for herself a record of sublime daring 
which, in an era less selfish than the present, would promptly meet with that 
substantial recognition which gratitude bestows upon the worthy, and win. 
for her name a wreath beautiful and fadeless as the immortelles with which 
history entwines the memory of Grace Darling. 

HOW KATE SHELLY CROSSED THE BRIDGE 

Oh, but the night was wild and dark, and the wind blew fierce and high! 

Oh, but the lightning flashed and shot across the inky sky! 

While the hurtling thunder cracked and rolled, till down the black clouds 

came, 
And earth seemed nothing at all to sight but water, wind, and flame. 



KATE SHELLY. 215 

Kate Shelly stands at her cottage door, and peers out into the night, 
For she sees, slow creeping through the storm, the pilot engine's light, 
And it must cross the trestle bridge above the swollen creek; 
It stops — it runs —then down it drops, with one long fearsome shriek. 

"Kate, stay!" the wailing mother cries; but the young soul rose high — 

" Nay, mother, I must try to help, though I should fail or die." 

She finds the wreck, but cannot save, yet from the deep below 

A man shouts up two frightened words. She answers him: "I know." 

The train! the train! the swift express! the crowded Western train! 
How shall she quickest reach the wires? By Boone the hope is vain. 
But to Moingona's but a mile, but yet so wild and drear, 
To brave it through the stormy night the stoutest heart might fail. 

Torn by undergrowth, and drenched, the wind and rain defied, 
She reached the raging Des Moines, and the bridge that spans its tide; 
A bridge not built for human tread, but "On!" her spirit cries — 
A bridge of full four hundred feet, nothing but rails and ties. 

No plank her daring steps to hold, and if a step should miss, 
Down fifty feet below her rolls the watery abyss. 
So on her hands and knees she creeps, fighting the wind and rain, 
Staining the timbers with her blood, yet heeding not the pain. 

Then on and on she bravely sped! Thick darkness r^und her lay, 
Save when the vivid lightning made a still more dreadful day; 
Yet the raging stream, and roaring wind, and fiercely beating rain 
Delayed her not; one thought had she — to save the coming train. 

At length the bridge is fairly crossed. Bleeding and out of breath, 
She yet has half a mile to run — a fearful race with Death! 
O'er fallen trees, o'er rocks, through creeks, until — O blessed sight! — 
She sees the way-side station house and its one glimmering light. 

Then all forespent, with failing strength, she pushes wide the door; 
With gleaming eyes and parted lips, she stands upon the floor; 
"The trestle's down! The engine's wrecked! Oh, stop the coming train 1" 
The man springs to the saving wires — she has not come in vain. 

Then tenderly they comfort her. They ask, "How did you come?" 
And hearing, lift their hearts and hats, and are a moment dumb. 
No soul among them would have dared the passage dark and wild; 
Ah! but God's angels had a charge to keep this noble child. 

O, brave Kate Shelly! though hard toil thy daily portion be, 
Mothers with happy pride now name their daughters after thee; 
And every child that hears thy tale shares in thy noble strain, 
And dares that perilous pass with thee to save the coming train. 

— Mary A. Barr. 

MEMORIAL DAY. 

May 30th, 1882, was the first I ever attended or took part in deco- 
rating the graves of our dead comrades, which I now feel is almost 
a sacred duty for all that are able. It revives history and inspires 



216 MEMORIAL DAY. 

in the young a love of our noble nation, its defenders and free pro- 
gressive people. Thus be prepared to follow the stars and stripes, 
the emblem of a free and independent cultured people. It should 
wave as indicating the greatest good to the greatest number of God'? 
creatures. 

The first observance of Decoration Day was in 1868, by direction 
of the Grand Army of the Republic. The headquarters of the 
organization being then in Washington, Gen. Logan at that time 
the commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic in a 
general order dated May 5th, 1868, fixed the date on the 30th day 
of May and has been generally observed. Congress directed that 
the ceremonies throughout the country on that 30th day of May 
1868, should be reported and published, which was done. 

The day is one that all classes of society can meet on a common 
level and sympathize with each other. No difference what the politi- 
cal or religious differences in opinion, training and habits may be, 
a common, familiar sympathy will naturally draw all classes to- 
gether in feeling and result in a better understanding in other mat- 
ters and harmony in society. 

The circumstances of the origin of the occasion — like the "Fourth 
of July — will be the constant means of drawing on history for facts, 
to supply thought for orations on such occasions, and at a time of 
the year when all nature is budding and in blossom, reminding us 
of our youth, its hopes and ambitions, that is soon followed by a 
train of circumstances that inspire the speaker with such as the fol- 
lowing grand and eloquent " God Bless the union soldiers " speech 
by Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll. 

The past rises before me like a dream. Again we are in the great strug- 
gle for national life. We hear the sounds of preparation— the music of the 
boisterous drums— the silver voices of heroic bugles. We see thousands of 
assemblages, and hear the appeals of orators; we see the pale cheeks of 
women and the flushed faces of men; and in those assemblages we see all 
the dead whose dust we have covered with flowers. We lose sight of them 
no more. We are with them when they enlist in the great army of freedom. 
We see them part with those they love. Some are walking for the last time 
its quiet, woody places with the maidens they adore. We hear the whis- 
perings and the sweet vows of eternal love as they lingeringly part forever. 
Others are bending over cradles, kissing babies that are asleep. Some are 
receiving the blessings of old men. Some are parting with mothers who 
hold them and press them to their hearts again and again, and say noth- 
ing, and some are talking with wives, and endeavoring with brave words 
spoken in the old tones to drive from their hearts 'the awful fear. We see 
them part. We see the wife standing in the door, with the babe in her arms 
— standiug in the sunlight sobbing — at the turn of the road a hand waves— 



MEMORIAL DAY. 217 

she answers by holding high in her loving arms the child. He is gone, and 
forever. 

We see them all as they march proudly away under the flaunting flags, 
keeping time to the wild, grand music of war— marching down the streets 
of great cities— through the towns and across the prairies— down the fields 
of glory, to do and to die for the eternal right. 

We go with them one and all. We are by their side on all the gory fields 
—in all the hospitals of pain— on all the weary marches. We stand guard 
with them in the wild storm, and under the quiet stars. We are with them 
in ravines running with blood— in the furrows of our fields. We are with 
them between contending hosts, unable to move, wild with thirst, the life 
ebbing slowly away among the withered leaves. We see them pierced by 
balls and torn with shells in the trenches by forts, and in the whirlwind of 
the charge, while men became iron with nerves of steel. 

We are with them in the prisons of hatred and famine; but human speech 
can never tell what they endured. 

We are at home when the news comes that they are dead. We see the 
maiden in the shadow of her first sorrow. We see the silvered head of the 
old man bowed with the first grief. 

The past rises before us, and we see four million of human beings gov- 
erned by the lash; we see them bound hand and foot; we hear the strokes 
of the cruel whips; we see the hounds tracking women through tangled 
swamps. We see babes torn from the breasts of mothers. Cruelty unspeak- 
able! Outrage infinite! 

Four million bodies in chains— four million souls in fetters. All the 
sacred relations of wife, mother, father and child trampled beneath the 
brutal feet of might. All this was done under our own beautiful banner of 
the free. 

The past rises before us. We hear the roar and shriek of the bursting 
shell. The broken fetters fall. These heroes died. We look. Instead of 
slaves we see free men, women and children. The wand of progress touches 
the auction-block, the slave-pen, the whipping-post, and we see homes and 
firesides, and school-houses and books, and where all was want, and crime, 
and cruelty, and fetters, we see the faces of the free. 

These heroes are dead. They died for liberty; they died for us. They 
are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they 
rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful 
willows, and the embracing vines. They sle^ep beneath the shadows of the 
clouds, careless alike of sunshine or storm, each in the windowless palace 
of rest, Earth may run red with other wars— they are at peace. In the 
midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. [A 
voice— "Glory."] I have one sentiment for the soldiers, living and dead- 
cheers for the living and tears for the dead. 

THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD. 

The muffled drum's sad roll has beat 

The soldier's last tattoo; 
No more on life's parade shall meet 

The brave and fallen few. 



MEMORIAL DAY. 

On Fame's eternal camping ground 
Their silent tents are spread, 

And glory guards with solemn round, 
The bivouac of the dead. 

No rumor of the foe's advance 

Now swells upon the wind, 
Nor troubled thought at midnight haunts 

Of loved ones left behind, 
No vision of the morrow's strife 

The warrior's dream alarms; 
No braying horn, no screaming fife, 

At dawn shall call to arms. 

Their shivered swords are red with rust, 

Their plumed heads are bowed, 
Their haughty banner, trailed in dust, 

Is now their martial shroud— 
And plenteous funeral tears have washed 

The red stains from each brow, 
And the proud forms by battle gashed 

Are free from anguish now. 

The neighing troop, the flashing blades, 

The bugle's stirring blast, 
The charge, the dreadful cannonade, 

The din and shout are passed; 
Nor War's wild notes, nor Glory's peal, 

Shall thrill with fierce delight 
Those breasts that never more may feel 

The rapture of the fight. 

Like the fierce Northern hurricane 

That sweeps his great plateau, 
Flushed with the triumph yet to gain, 

Come down the serried foe, 
"Who heard the thunder of the fray 

Break o'er the field beneath, 
Knew well the watchword of that day 

Was " Victory or death!" 



Thus 'neath their parent turf they rest, 

Far from the glory field, 
Born to a Spartan mother's breast 

On many a bloody shield. 
The sunshine of their native sky 

Smiles sadly on them here, 
And kindred eyes and hearts watch by 

The hero's sepulchre. 



AN IDEAL LIFE. 219 

Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead! 

Dear is the blood you gave— 
No impious footsteps here shall tread 

The herbage of your grave; 
Nor shall your glory be forgot 

While Fame her record keeps, 
Or Honor points the hallowed spot 

Where Valor proudly sleeps, 

Yon marble minstrel's voiceful stone 

In deathless song shall tell, 
When many a vanished year hath flown, 

The story how he fell; 
Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight 

Nor Time's remoreless doom, 
Can dim one ray of holy light, 

That gilds your glorious tomb. 

— By Colonel Theodore O'Hara. 

A TRUE IDEAL LIFE. 

A Natural Life and Home. 
"Look through Nature up to Nature's God."— Pope. 

What can be more beautiful than a pure, natural, humorous, well 
rounded life. When you find that person that has not got one 
spark of good or God in him, you may call him "totally depraved," 
if you like. But true charity is the sweetest and most attractive of 
qualities. It smooths away the angles and rubs off the roughness 
and diminishes the friction of life. It adds grace to daily courte- 
sies and makes burdens easier to be borne. The loving heart is 
the strong heart. The generous hand is the hand to cling to when 
the path is difficult. There is room for the exercise of charity 
everywhere — in business, in society, and in church, but first and 
chiefest is the need for it at home, where it is the salt which keeps 
all things sweet, the aroma which makes every hour charming, and 
the divine light which shines star like through all gloom and 
depression. How love winks at little faults and charitably passes 
them by. How love improves the circulation, digestion, and dis- 
position. To improve that adds pleasure to all around. 

My purpose now is to divide life into four periods, representing 
the four seasons of the year — spring, summer, autumn and winter, 
and to give each its portion in due season. You will probably 
have to help me in making the division, but I will insist on it being 
premature death if you die before sixty, eighty or a hundred years, 
according to the conditions you have inherited. This is my idea of 
what should be, if well organized persons would live in harmony 



220 AN IDEAL LIFE. 

with the natural laws of their being. How good it would be to 
extend youth or the spring time of life to twenty-five years; then 
extend the summer and fall to seven ty-five, before beginning to 
call people old, and then have a glorious, pleasant winter season 
the last fourth of a century, enjoying the fruits of our labor, a 
sweet, joyful spirit learning and improving the inner man to the last 
moment; then with love to all below, and a sweet consciousness of 
of a faithful, well-spent life and a bright, cheerful prospect of pro- 
gressive life in higher spheres of action, drop off the earthly taber- 
nacle and with a more beautiful and refined temple of a spiritual 
habitation for the soul, go forth to brighter fields of usefulness and 
glory, going onward and upward through all time and eternity, 
drawing nearer and nearer until reaching the great I Am, or center 
and first cause of all things that are, so pure, refined and pro- 
gresssive u that no man by searching can find out," — whom we call 
God. 

While I am not willing to lower this standard, you may if you think 
you cannot possibly make the time over three or four score years, 
fix it at those dates and divide by four. But still work for my 
standard, at least for your offspring so that they may have approxi- 
mately perfect organization to begin with. 

THE SPUING- TIME OF LIFE. 

"The mind impressible and soft with ease 
Imbibes and copies what she hears and sees; 

And through life's labyrinth holds fast the clue 
What education gives her, false or true." 

—Cooper. 

THE BABY. 

How important that we begin right with these little buds, 
' 'for as the twig is oent the tree inclines. " 

I would like to put in a plea for the proper care of these little 
pets. First, that it is all wrong to bandage them so tight they suf- 
fer. "O, they have got the colic," some one says, and then wrap 
the poor helpless lumps in blankets so tight they can scarcely 
breathe. Then do not put it between "ma and pa," and sap the 
life out of it, but to one side; then don't kiss it to death, to gratify 
your own feelings, not its. It will enjoy a reasonable amount if it 
it nice. Don't stuff it brimful, then bounce it on your knee till the 
little " sugar lump " suffers, and tries to laugh, but is cruelty injured; 
try it yourself, by having some big heathen bounce you the same 



AN IDEAL LIFE. 221 

way; then remember his feelings and don't injure it for life with 
medicine. Give the little love-lump a chance to grow in the fresh 
air with the extremeties well covered with soft flannel, and not any- 
thing tight about it. Give it besides the sunshine of all affection, 
the rays of nature's great orb. How well do your plants thrive in 
the shade? Which has the most beautiful flowers, those grown in 
the shade or sun — which are the most vigorous ? 

Then give the loved ones regular food and sleep, and it is not 
absolutely necessary, for manners, or right to wake it up for every 
sentimental young lady that calls to settle the color of its eyes. 
The mother should care for it when possible; the father to share 
the care at times. Nurses are uncertain appendages to the family. 
If you would have it safe, and grow healthy, vigorous and be 
happy, attend to it, teach it to prate or pratle, make you laugh and 
be proud of it. They begin to fear and reason soon. 



Baby waking in the dark, 
Heard one night a big dog bark, 

"Let her cweep," she softly said, 
"In your bed, for she is faid." 

Nestled close to mamma dear, 
Baby sleeps and knows no fear. 

Rosy morning lights the skies 
And opens darling baby's eyes. 

Just as bright as any skies 
Are our darling's starry eyes; 

Just as fair as any day 

Are the curls that round them play. 

Now when next night she waking thought 
How nice to leave her lonely cot, 

And creep into her mamma's bed— 
Oh, shall I tell you what she said ? 

What a little baby fib 

Trundled off her tongue so glib? 

But the truth it must be told — 
And baby's only two years old, 

And the night was dark and long— 
And she didn't know 'twas wrong- 
So this is what the darling said, 
Lying in her little bed: 

Though no voice of dog was heard, 
Though no sound the night air stirred, 



222 AN IDEAL LIFE. 

Came a whisper in the dark: 
"Mamma, she fink she hear dog bark." 

Who could withstand the childish plea? 
I'm certain neither you nor me. 

In mamma's bed, all in the dark, 

She creeps, "cos she fink she hear dog bark." 

— Mrs. H. A. Brown, in the Christian at Work* 
TRAINING THE BABIES. 

This would be learning the little "honeysuckle" to prevaricate at 
an early age, by a wrong habit. People assume more in their 
treatment of the babies from this period on up through the spring 
time of their life than they should till they come of age, than they 
are willing to concede. In fact, they should be regarded during 
youth, to use a political illustration, as an organized territory is, 
that is to sajr, they are entitled to speak in their behalf for or 
against measures affecting their welfare, but not to vote nor other- 
wise to take part in actually deciding whether the measures shall 
or shall not be adopted. This very natural arrangement seems to 
disarrange their plans occasionally. In fact, they are liable to 
loose their 4 'weather-gauge" every time, and just have to take 
whatever somebody else shall declare to be good for them. What 
makes their position harder is the fact that what is good for them, 
always must be a matter of the wildest conjecture. We so seldom 
know ourselves and forget that we were once in their situations 
and are oblivious to their infantile sensations. 

It follows that the existing fund of so-called knowledge in regard 
to their management, is of an empirical character, and necessarily 
must be altogether untrustworthy; especially the first few years of 
the life of the new governing power. Hence we should be very 
patient and study their nature, wants and necessities. Basing your 
judgment on experience and the natural mental philosophy based 
on a good understanding of phrenology — more easily understood 
than you may suppose — which is a great promoter of charity, love 
and kindness, that the children are having the benefit of its influ- 
ence in the more mild, kindly treatment in the public schools and 
many private cultured families. 

Home life is where the children of school age will get their edu- 
cation, whether you think so or intend it so or not. They are there 
seven days in the week, learning the practical life ways, right or 
wrong. Remember the responsibility is on you, not all on the 
school teacher, who can only teach them rules and some facts, and 



AN IDEAL LIFE. 223 

that is a small part compared with yours. Try and control them by 
kindness as the good teacher does. 

THE CHILDREN. 

When the tasks and the lessons are ended, 

And the school for the day is dismissed, 
The little ones gather around me, 

To bid me good-night and be kissed. 
O, the little white arms that encircle 

My neck in their tender embrace! 
O, the smiles that are halos of Heaven, 

Shedding sunshine and joy on my face I 

My heart grows as weak as a woman's 

And the fount of my feelings will flow, 
j When I think of the paths steep and stony, 

Where the feet of the dear ones must go; 
Of the mountains of sin growing o'er them, 

Of the tempests of fate blowing wild; 
For there's nothing on earth half so holy 

As the innocent heart of a child. 

They are idols of hearts and of households, 

They are angels of God in disguise; 
His sunlight still sleeps in their tresses— 

His glory still beams in their eyes. 
O, the truants from home and from Heaven! 

They have made more manly and mild, 
And I know now, how Jesus could liken 

The Kingdom of God to a child 

I ask not a life for the dear ones 

All radiant, as others have done. 
But that life may have just enough shadow 
i To temper the glare of the sun. 
I would ask God to shield them from evil, 

But the prayer would bound back on myself; 
Ah, a seraph may pray for a sinner, 
But a sinner must pray for himself. 

The twig is so easily bended, 

I have banished the rule and the rod ; 
I have taught them the goodness of learning, 

They have taught me the goodness of God. 
My heart is a dungeon of darkness 

When I punish for breaking a rule, 
My frown is sufficient correction, 

My love is the law of the school. 



•224: PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

I shall leave the old house in the autumn, 

To traverse its threshold no more. 
Ah, how 1 shall miss all the dear ones, 

That meet me each morn at the door. 
I shall miss the good-nights, and the kisses, 

The bursts of their innocent glee, 
Their plays on the lawn, and the flowers 

That are brought every morning to me. 

1 shall miss them at morn and at even, 
Their songs in the school and the street; 

I shall miss the low hum of their voices, 
And the noise of their pattering feet. 

When the lessons of life are all ended, 
And Death says the school is dismissed, 

May the little ones gather around me, 

To bid me good-night and be kissed. 

—By Charles Dickens. 

But some how or other these little boys get beyond the kissing 
and hugging period for a while, at least they pretend to; still I 
know it will be appreciated if others execute it. They begin to feel 
that it is time to turn themselves loose like so many little animals, 
especially at the table (if there is company). They will strike ont 
with their little hatchets to imitate George Washington, and if they 
have no hobby-horse to ride may imitate mischievous Lincoln by 
jumping astride the old cow and taking a rough ride. They will 
hie themselves away into every nook and corner, into the pig-sty, 
stable or barn, or along the banks of a brook where a dam can be 
constructed and a flutter-wheel put in, and most likely get into it 
themselves; then off to the grove, up into the trees, and if they 
cannot find plenty of nuts and berries to eat, their empty stomachs 
will draw them home just after the table is cleared off, " awful 
hungry," with their clothes in " terrible condition." Mamma says: 
"Now, you must stay at home !" If they cannot make up some 
excuse to get away, they will soon be in all kinds of mischief, from 
cellar to garret, of course hunting tools, paper, strings, etc-, to 
make a kite, a sled, a wagon, a trap, a whirligig, or a gymnastic 
pole, keeping mamma in "hot water" for fear they will cut them- 
selves or break their necks, yet it is the making of them — not by 
breaking their necks, understand me — but by means of the hilarity 
cultivating mechanical and scientific genius. 



A" BIRD STORY. 

A BIRD STORY FOR BOYS. 

"It's strange how little boys 1 mothers 

Can find it out all as they do, 
If a fellow does anything naughty, 

Or says anything that's not true! 
They'll look at you just a moment 

Till your heart in your bosom swells, 
And then they know all about it— 
For a little bird tells ! 

Now where the little bird comes from, 

Or where the little bird goes, 
If he's covered with beautiful plumage, 

Or black as the king of crows, 
If his voice is as hoarse as the raven, 

Or clear as the ringing of bells, 
I know not— but this I am sure of — 
A little bird tells ! 

The moment you think a thing wicked. 

The moment you do a thing bad, 
Are angry or sullen or hateful, 

Get ugly or stupid or mad, 
Or tease a dear brother or sister — 

That instant your sentence he knells, 
And the whole to mamma in a minute 
That little bird tells! 

You may be in the depths of a closet 

Where nobody sees but a mouse, 
You may be all alone in the cellar, 

You may be in the top of the house, 
You may be in the dark and the silence, 

Or out in the woods and the dells — 
No matter—wherever it happens, 
The little bird tells! 

And the only contrivance to stop him 

Is just to be sure what you say- 
Sure of your facts and your fancies, 
Sure of your work and your play; 
Be honest, be brave, and be kindly, 

Be gentle and loving as well, 
And then — you can laugh at the stories, 
The little birds tell! 

—Wide AwaJce. 

The little girls, bless their dimples, would be more healthy if 
they would share the sports of the bo}^s in many things, and those 
that do are the happiest — if not the prettiest — and best. Dolls and 
play houses are well, as is knitting and sewing, but they become 
as monotonous to them, as the bovs' games do to them. Liberty 
15 



226 PRNGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

and sunshine will give them all a happier future. Then they are in 
a condition to learn, and they will ask many questions ma and pa 
can't answer; and if well trained, with plenty of little papers to 
read that they can understand; but the reading matter should be of 
the best, for they soon begin to philosophize and will have grand 
ideals, as indicated by their queries, probably like 

THE GOLDEN LADDER. 

The children watched the sun go down, 

And iu its gleaming changes, 
The west seemed first a sea of fire, 

Then golden mountain ranges. 

And Fannie asked, " What are the clouds? 

They look like hills of glory," 
"The steps of Heaven," Frank replied, 
"It is a sweet old story; 

" A guardian angel, every day, 

To each of us is given; 
And every night they climb to Heaven, 
Up o'er that Golden Ladder. 

"And then the gates of pearl swing back 

Upon their gleaming hinges, 
And all the sky seems melted gold, 
With red and purple fringes. 

" But when the doors are closed again, 
The guardian angels gather 
In solemn silence, with their books, 
Around our Heavenly Father. 

"And then I close my eyes and think 
How, in that sinless dwelling, 
Will sound the story of my life 
My angel must be telling. 

" Some days, I know my angel takes 
The record of my sinning ; 
Bnt then I always try to make 
The next a new beginning. 

" So, when at night our Fathor calls, 

My angel may be gladder, 
A«d he the first to climb to Heaven, 
Up o'er the Golden Ladder." 



Marie R. Butler. 



MAXIMS. 



There is a great amount of poetic feeling in those spring time 
lives, but when they reach the age of puberty they need special 
care and training by the father and mother in that direction, as in 



A WISE PERIOD. 227 

dress and habits. Try and live and act so they will have confi- 
dence in you, making them feel that you are liberal and kind, then 
they will counsel with you freely as to where they shall go and what 
is best for them to do, or get in the way of clothes. Give them 
enough of your plans for them to understand your movements; it 
will get them to think and act more wisely and take an interest in 
your plans, and frequently they will make good suggestions. Go 
slow and sure, and "strike when the iron is hot." Commit to 
memory these 

TRIPLET MAXIMS. 

Three thiDgs to do— think, live and act. 

Three things to govern— your temper, tongue and conduct. 

Three things to cherish — virtue, goodness and wisdom. 

Three things to love— courage, gentleness and affection. 

Three things to contend for — honor, country and friends. 

Three things to hate — cruelty, arrogance and ingratitude. 

Three things to teach— truth, industry and contentment. 

Three things to admire— intellect, dignity and gracefulness. 

Three things to like— cordiality, goodness and cheerfulness. 

Three thiugs to delight in — beauty, frankness and freedom. 

Three things to avoid— idleness, loquacity and flippant jesting. 

Three things to wish for — health, friends and a contented spirit. 

Three things to cultivate— good books, good friends and good humor. 

A WISE PERIOD. 

The youth, from fifteen to eighteen years old, should have some 
able and experienced phrenologist to examine him thoroughly and 
indicate what the youth's make up will best qualify him for in the 
practical every day business of life, as his whole future success, if 
not happiness, may turn, as it were, on a pivot of circumstances 
at this particular period of life. And don't jump at the highest 
point that you might possibly succeed in, where there are ninety- 
nine chances against you, but take that occupation where you 
would be strong and sure of reasonable success and a prospect for 
becoming more than ordinary. Farming, if you can get a reason- 
able start, is the surest, and is a good point, now-a-days, to start 
from to make a statesman or lecturer, as you may also from any 
mechanical pursuits. If you are not fit for either of them, or 
some solid business pursuit, then go in to the over run professions; 
you may eke out a poor living whether the people are benefited or 
not. Let the old stock die off and then circumstances will call you 
in that direction if you are the right person for the place. Keep 
well if you can, possibly; even prefer it to an education if you 



228 PROGRESS OF LlffE AND THOUGHT. 

can't have both. Education is important, but you can get it by 
degrees outside the school-room. 

If you cannot get wood to saw or plowing to do, base ball or 
running a boat is good healthy exercise. To promote health take 
a tramp with hard beds and eoarse healthy diet. Then eat well 
and sleep well, be as clean all through and all over as you are in 
the drawing room and then you will not only be able to do your 
day's work in this world like a man, but when the years bring their 
inevitable burden you will be able to say with Adam in the play: 

"Though I look old, yet am I strong" and lusty, 
For in my youth I never did apply 
Hot and rebellious liquors to my lips; 
Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo 
The means of weakness and debility; 
Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, 
Frosty but kindly." 

Dress is important, but let every young man or woman have 
moral courage to go into society if they are not in fashion, if neat. 

"It is the mind that makes the man." 

Never stoop so low as to make light of people because their 
clothes are not as good as yours. There is such a thing as 

TURNING THE TABLES. 

When Maine was a district of Massachusetts Ezekiel Whitman was 
chosen to represent the district in the Massachusetts legislature. He was 
an eccentric man, and one of the best lawyers of his time. He owned a 
farm and did much work on his land, and when the time came for him to 
set out for Boston his best suit of clothes was a suit of homespun. His 
wife objected to his going in this garb, but he did not care. 

"I will get a nice suit made as soon as I reach Boston," he said. 

Beaching his destination, Whitman found rest at Doolittle's City Tavern. 
Let it be understood that he was a graduate of Harvard, and at this tavern 
he was at home. As he entered the parlor of the house he found several 
ladies and gentlemen assembled, and he heard the following remark from 
one of them : 

"Ah! here comes a countryman of the real homespun genius. Here's 
fun." 

Whitman stared at the company and then sat down. 

"Say, my friend are you from the country V" remarked one of the gentle- 
men. 

"Ya-as," answered Ezekiel with a ludicrous twist of the face. 

"And what do you think of the city?" asked one of the ladies. 

"It's a pooty thickly settled place anyhow. Its got a sweepin' sight of 
house'n it." 

"And a good many people, too." 

"Ya-as, I should guess so." 



MY NEIGHBOR. 229 

"Many people where you come from?" 

"Wall, some." 

"Plenty of ladies, I suppose?" 

"Y a-as, a fair sprinkling." 

"And I don't doubt you are quite a beau among them." 

"Yas, beau 'em home; tew meeting and from singing skewl." 

"Perhaps the gentleman from the country will take a glass of wine?'* 

"Thank'ee. Don't keer if I do." 

The wine was brought. 

4 'You must drink a toast." 

"Oh, get eout! I eat toast; never heard of sich a thing as drunkin' it. 
But I can give you a sentiment." 

The ladies clapped their hands; but what was their surprise when the 
stranger, rising, spoke calmly and clearly as follows: 

"Ladies and gentlemen, permit me to wish you health and happiness, with 
every blessing earth can afford, and may you grow better and wiser in 
advancing years, bearing in mind that outward appearances are deceitful. 
You mistook me from my dress as a country booby, while I from the same 
superficial cause thought you were ladies and gentlemen. The mistake has 
been mutual." 

He had just finished when Caleb Strong, Governor of the State, entered 
and inquired for Whitman. 

"Ah, here I am, Governor. Glad to see you." 

Then turning to the dumbfounded company he said: 

"I wish you a very good evening." 

Right wrongs no one. It is right for young folks to have all the 
pleasure they can but not at the expense of another's reputation. 
It indicates a weakness of intellect and culture; or their minds 
would be in a better channel. The tables are generally turned in 
such cases as the above, in time. 

There are abundance of means to enjoy themselves, in this the 
last days of the spring time, when they like the fruit trees, lilacs, 
snowballs, and roses are in full bloom, gay and festive, with all of 
their aroma, but not quite ripe enough to marry or shed the bloom, 
which soon falls off, yet like the bee they love the nectar, and 
want to fulfill the Scripture in loving 

MY NEIGHBOR. 

"Love thou thy neighbor," we are told, 
"Even as thyself." That creed I hold; 
But love her more, a thousand fold. 

My lovely neighbor; oft we meet 
In lonely lane, or crowded street; 
I know the music of her feet. 

She little thinks how, on a day, 

She must have missed her usual way, 

And walked into my heart for aye. 



230 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Or how the rustle of her dress 
Thrills through nie like a soft caress, 
With trembles of deliciousness. 

Wee woman, with her smiling mien, 

And soul celestially serene, 

She passes me, unconscious queen, 

Her face most innocently good, 
Where slyly peeps the sweet red blood; 
Her form a nest of womanhood! 

Like Raleigh— for her dainty tread, r 

When ways are miry— I could spread 
My cloak, but there's my heart instead* 

Ah, neighbor, you will never know 
Why 'tis my step is quickened so ; 
Nor what the prayer I murmur low. 

I see you 'mid your flowers at morn, 
Fresh as the rosebud newly born: 
I marvel, can you have a thorn ? 

If so 'twere sweet to lean one's breast 
Against it, and the more it pressed, 
Sing like the bird that grief hath blessed. 

I hear you sing! And through me spring 
Doth musically ripple and ring; 
Little you think I'm listening ! 

You know not, dear, how dear you be; 
M U dearer for the secrecy ; 
Nothing, and yet a world to me. 

So near, too ! you could hear me sigh, 

Or see my case with half an eye ; 

But must not. There are reasons why, 

— Gerald Massey. 

THE SUMMER SEASON OF LIFE. 

The fountains consolidate with the rivers, 

And the rivers with ocean; 
The winds of heaven consolidate forever 

With a sweet emotion. 
Nothing in the world is single; 

All things by law that's higher 
In one another's being mingle, 

Why not you and I — er? 

When the two blooming youths have budded richly into woman 
and manhood it is presumed they are from twenty to twenty- 
five years of age and have sowed their wild oats and some affection. 

With long dresses, beard and u understanding," they should 
have had experience enough to have accumulated a nucleous of 




[Enlarged from poor old Daguerreotype.] 
WIFE AND I WHEN MARRIED. 



WHAT MY LOVER SAID. 231 

property each, and good common sense judgment to never, either 
of them, allow their affections to concentrate on one that is 
unworthy of them in any way, in bad habits or bad health. If 
you expect peace and happiness, or good products, each determine 
on carrying out the principle of the u survival of the fittest." Let 
those that have bad health and habits "play out." They are the 
ones, if any, that should, would, and probably will be "barren 
and unfruitful." They certainly will be of pleasure, with an 
occasional exception. Besides, you should study the mental 
organization, from the standpoint of phrenology, and see that 
there is an agreeable harmony, especially if you would have 

"two with but a single thought," 

So far as the general purposes of life are concerned, with their 
fruits and culture in body and mind; but if you have got a mind 
do not marry a person without a mind, in order to carry out the 
thought, for there are many in fashionable society, of both sexes, 
that are not much above the ape. 

With a good education, and some experience in a definite pursuit 
for life work, you should marry. I would advise the young lady to 
use her equally natural right to select, and to say so. It would be 
a Godsend to worthy timid young men; and both of you take the 
hint from the old Quaker, when he said, "Never marry for money, 
my lad, marry for love; but if thou finds a nice girl that has money, 
try to love her." I should leave out the "try" part, but if the love 
is genuine and all else is right, the money is not objectionable but 
a great convenience if it does not spoil you. Life means action, 
actoin means life. So if you love a true woman you may get a good 
wife. 

And she may tell on you in the spirit of the following beauti- 
fully expressed lines which are thought to have been Horace 
Greeley's production, and are admired by thoughtful people who 
have had experience: 



By the merest chance, in the twilight gloom, 

In the orchard path he met me— 
In the tall, wet grass, with its faint perfume, 
And I tried to pass, but he made no room, 

Oh ! I tried, but he would not let me, 
So I stood and blushed till the grass grew red, 

With my face bent down above it, 
"While he took my hand as he whispering said — 
How the clover lifted each pink sweet head 
To listen to all my lover said! 

Oh! the clover in bloom— I love it! 



232 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

In the high, wet grass went the path to hide, 

And the low, wet leaves hung over, 
But I could not pass on either side, 
For I found myself, when I vainly tried, 

In the arms of my steadfast lover, 
And he held me there and he raised my head, 

While he closed the path before me, 
And he looked down into my eyes and said — 
How the leaves bent down from the boughs o'erhead, 
To listen to all that my lover said; 

Oh! the leaves hanging lowly o'er me. 

Had he moved aside but a little way 

I could surely then have passed him, 
And he knew I never could wish to stay, 
And would not have heard what he had to say, 

Could I only aside have cast him. 
It was almost dark, and the moments sped, 

And the searching night wind found us; 
But he drew me nearer and softly said- 
How the pure, sweet wind grew still instead 
To listen to all that my lover said, 

Oh I the whispering wind around us. 

I am sure he knew, when he held me fast, 

That I must be all unwilling; 
For I tried to go, and would have passed 
As the night was come with its dews at last, 

And the sky with its stars was filling; 
But he clasped me close, when I would have jled, 

And he made me hear bis story. 
And his soul came out from his lips and said- 
How the stars crept out when the white moon led 
To listen to all that my lover said. 

Oh! the moon and the stars in glory! 

I know that the grass and the leaves will not tell. . 

And I'm sure that the wind, precious rover, 
Will carry his secret so safely and well 

That no being shall ever discover 
One word of the many that rapidly fell 

From the eager lips of my lover. 

And the moon and the stars that looked over 
Shall never reveal what a fairy-like spell 
They wove round about us that night in the dell, 

In the path through the dew-laden clover; 
Nor echo the whispers that made my heart swell 

As they fell from the lips of my lover. 

But after you have made as many failures to get to the point, as 
indicated above, and veered off, for fear that the grass or leaves 
may hear you, you must remember, "if you do not at first succeed 



WHAT MY LOVER SAID. 233 

try and try again;" she will probably feel as Mary Cowden Clarke 
expresses it, when the declaration comes: 

What makes my heart so wildly throb? 
I'm glad, not sorry— yet I sob: 

What ails me that I cannot rest? 

He told me what I partly guessed. 

Why will the tears o'erflow my eyes? 
It must have been the glad surprise; 

Surprise to find I rightly guessed, 

Delight to hear he loved me best. 

A sudden joy affects like grief; 
But with joy's tumult conies relief 

To feel all fears are set at rest, 

As when he drew me to his breast. 

When all this is true, and genuine feeling, in your case, you are 
not far from the kingdom. A crisis has struck you, a wedding is 
imminent; but don't go to any foolish expense or extravagance, as 
is very often the case, but save your means for necessary articles, 
so that you will not fall behind soon after the happy jubilee. 

And do not be too formal about the ceremony, and let your 
responses be "yea, yea, and nay, nay," or you maybe like an 
ignorant fellow, about to be married, who resolved to make him- 
self perfect in the responses of the marriage service, but by mis- 
take he committed the office of baptism for those of riper years; so 
when the clergyman asked him, in the church: "Wilt thou take 
this woman to be thy wedded wife?" the bridegroom answered in 
a very solemn tone: "I renounce them all." The astonished 
minister said, "I think you are a fool." To which he replied: 
"All this I steadfastly believe." 

[Now the great transaction is done and each feels they have got 
the all and in all, so they might say with Pope, 

All are but parts of one stupendous whole. 

Then if your "cage" is prepared, make all things ready promptly 
and get in it. If it is very pheap and common it is the right place 
to start from, and there is just where you should be to make home 
happy. Spend your "honey moon" there and it may last for life, 
if you have not got foolish ideas from novels and elsewhere that 
lead you astray in many ways. 

If you travel, do that afterwards when it will do you good. But 
a happy home is no doubt your idea of heaven; make your home 
just as near your ideal of the future one as you can. 



234 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

No difference how little a hovel it is where you stay, work will 
clean it, white wash is cheap, paint don't cost much, and remember 
cleanliness is closely related to Godliness and a man that is a man 
will keep things in repair about his premises and improve them 
what he is able, and when both are well disposed in this way, and 
wholesouled, free and frank to consult about any matter of import- 
ance, never deceiving each other in the least, not even in the time 
of day. I have no sympathy for a clock that will tell falsehoods, 
how could you in one that makes it, but while you possess two 
souls, try to get your tastes as well as tasters together and you may 
have a "feast of reason and flow of soul." 

Then if you have prudence enough not to be like the butterfly or 
blue bird in this little item from St. Nicholas, you may get along 
in the world, but this is 

THE WAY OF THE WOKLD. 

A bluebird met a butterfly 

One lovely summer day, 
And sweetly lisped, "I like your dress, 

It's very bright and gay." 
There wasn't any butterfly 

When bluebird flew away. 

One black cat met that sly bluebird 

When going for a walk, 
And mewed, "My charming singing friend, 

Let's have a quiet talk." 
There wasn't any bluebird 

When puss resumed her walk. 

IF AT THE FOOT OF THE LADDER, CLIMB. 

There is no need of you being as cadaverous as the black cat. If 
you want property work for it, produce it, raise it, get it honorably, 
not manage by flattery or setting forth something to be gained by 
some poor weak butterfly or bluebird, to get them in debt to you 
and then sell him out or mortgage him and finally sap him as pussy 
did. Take advantage of no man or his necessities, but at the same 
time take care of "No. 1 " that you do not get eat up by the biggest 
fish, but by steady work you may go up in wealth, or in fame from 
small beginning as Lincoln, Grant or Garfield, that started at the 
foot of the ladder, as did Kev. Kobert Collier who says: 

"Remember this, too, that with health and strength to back you, life means 
hard work, and hard work on long lines with native ability and good conduct 
means success. I will venture to say that, as a rule we can trust, the young man 
who begins life with no advantage of position or patronage> and makes his way 



CLIMB TO THE TOP. 235 

to a good place. He gives his heart to what he has to do, not half the time 
but all the time, not grudgingly but gladly, and not merely for the sake 
of the salary, but because he loves to be at it and makes the work in good 
measure its own reward. It shall come to pass, if you take hold like this, 
that men will say you have a genius for what you take in hand. But you will 
know that one of the fine qualities in a genius for anything is an absorbing love 
for it, and the power of intense application by which every other power is set to 
its finest edge and directed to the one great purpose the man holds in his heart and 
brain. You may set this truth in whatever light you will, of business, or work 
on the common levels or work on the loftiest heights, to give your heart to it is one 
of the grandest secrets of success. It might seem to you that a great many men 
go from the bottom to the top of the ladder at one jump. It is not true. All the 
men that I know who have made a real success of their life are hard climbers. 
The other way is like the monkey top of the children. You go up swiftly over 
the top and come down head first to begin again. 

This story of mine is no use to you if you forget that from the day 1 left the little 
cottage to the day I came to "New York my life divides itself into two sections of 
steady striking on long lines. Twenty-one years at the anvil and twenty-one years 
in the West, and in these there is no break except that 1 made to get from the 
Old world to the New. And now I see that these forty- two years all belong 
together, and in every year something was done for those that were still waiting. 
In some of the later years in the shop I could not but feel that I was the equal as a 
preacher of a good many men who did nothing else, and would wonder whether 
I should die as my father did at the anvil. But then we had a houseful of 
children, and my hammer was a capital weapon to keep the wolf from the door 
and keep things fair and true, so not one step would I go until light shone clear 
and I knew I was on a sure adventure." 

Speak thou the truth, let others fence, 

And trim their words for pay; 
In pleasant sunshine of pretense 

Let others bask their day. 

Guard thou the fact, though clouds of night 

Down on thy watch-tower stoop. 
Though thou shouldst see thy heart's delight 
Borne from thee by their swoop. 

Face thou the wind : Though safer seem 

In shelter to abide, 
We are not made to sit and dream, 

The safe must first be tried. 

Show thou the light. If conscience gleam, 

Set thou thy bushel down. 
The smallest spark may send a beam 

O'er hamlet, tower and town. 

Woe unto him, on safety bent, 

Who creeps from age to youth, 
Failing to grasp his life's intent 

Because he fears the truth. 



236 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Be true to every inmost thought, 

And as thy thought thy speech. 
What thou hast not by striving bought 

Presume not thou to teach. 

Then each wild gust the mist shall clear 

We now see darkly through, 
And justified at last appear 

The true, in him that's true. 

The good wife will apply the above rules to herself in a general 
way, but they will probably, frequently, all through the summer 
season of life hold the high office of a mother. And if they are not 
prudent in their living and habits, they may get out of health; but 
they should not if well regulated. It is just as natural as life it- 
self, and requires special care not to over do themselves, and be 
as cheerful and kind as they can and it will give the husband a 
double interest and care for them. But frequently the reverse is 
sadly true, with both of them. To have fretting, complaining, or 
scolding by either party is the worst evil in the land, even by those 
who profess to be exemplary outside the family. They have got 
sugar-coated words for the neighbor while there that calls, but a 
"scowl" when they have gone out. The results do not only affect 
their happiness but that of their offspring. 

God pity the man or woman that has such a companion. How 
different where both are courageous in trying circumstances. How 
their ardent love of youth will burst forth, strong and abiding, and 
a feeling akin to that expressed in the following lines by Robert 
Herick, but seldom expressed in words at all. 

Dear, be not proud of those two eyes, 
Which, star-like, sparkle in their skys; 
Nor be you proud that you can see 
All hearts your captives, yours yet free; 
Be you not proud of that rich haire, 
Which wantons with the love-sick aire; 
When as that ruby which you weare, 
Sunk from the tip of your soft eare, 
Will last to be a precious stone, 
When all your world of beauty's gone. 

"Women are naturally good economists. They are apt at understanding 
how to make limited means go as far as possible. The man and wife are 
united in the desire to get rich, the man is likely to think more about earn- 
ing money; the wife will attach more importance to saving it. 

Almost every American earns mone} T enough to be well off, and in time to 
be rich. If he does not become so, it is, in many cases, because he has no 
wife, or because he does not take her into his counsels. He is full of enter- 



MAKE HOME PLEASANT. 237 

prise and makes an income, and if he does not prosper, it is often because 
he does not hold on to it. His wife, very likely, has the faculty of conversa- 
tion which he lacks; and if he has the shrewdness to enlist her in his plans, 
he may find his fortune made. 

In continential Europe, book-keeping is a part of the education of well- 
taught farmers' daughters, and the wife presides over the finances of the 
establishment. With us, woman's aptitude in the promotion of material 
prosperity is too little thought of; and a woman, who, as a girl, was 
untaught in respect to judicious economy, makes an expensive wife. Her 
husband, perhaps, keeps her in ignorance of his finances, purposely. If he 
is prosperous, she becomes accustomed to plenty of money, and ill-prepared 
for reverses. If he is not prosperous, she has to bear the pinching of 
poverty without knowing how to help him avoid the pressure. 

Marriage would be easier and happier, if young women were taught the 
principles of account-keeping, and systematic habits in respect to finances; 
and if the young husband would take his wife into his confidence, and make 
the income and outgo, and the accumulation of the first few thousand of 
dollars, a matter of common interest. An American girl of average intelli- 
gence and good sense can make the fortune of a man whose love she enjoys, 
and who will give her for the purpose a full share in the responsible control 
of the income of the household. She will not generally be able to enter 
into his business plans, but if she knows his wages, salary or current 
profits, and his personal expenses, and can thus foresee what the household 
has to rely on, she will characteristically be ready "to cut the coat accord- 
ing to the cloth," and will usually be more scrupulous than he, to lay aside 
something every season as the beginning of their fortune. 

MAKING HOME PLEASANT. 

There are several good lessons to be learned from Arthur's 
Home Magazine on that score; one is as follows: "O, ma'am, 
won't you come round to our house quick," said a dirty faced child 
about ten years old. Her head was frizzley, looking as though it 
had not seen a comb for a week, and her soiled clothes were tat- 
tered and unsightly. "What is the matter," I asked. "The 
baby's got a fit and mother says please won't you come round, 
she don't know what to do." I knew the child and her mother; 
she lived in a court not far off, so I drew on a shawl and hood and 
ran around to see what could be done for the sick baby. The 
poor little thing lay in its frightened mother's arms struggling 
with spasms. 

u O mamma," cried the woman, "he'll die. He'll die." 

"Of course he will," said I, a little impudently, "if you sit there 
doing nothing." 

"But O mamma, what can I do?" she asked helplessly. 

"Why get him into a warm bath as quickly as possible," said I. 
"Every woman who has a baby ought to know enough to do that. 



238 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Have you any hot water?" u O dear no; the fire has all gone out," she 
answered, beginning to wring her hands in the way peculiar to 
some people, when any sudden trouble comes on them. 

I hastily went into a neighbor's and found a kettle of water 
on the fire. It was cheerfully given, and the neighbor went back 
with me and assisted to get the poor baby into a hot bath, which 
soon relieved and soothed its convulsed frame. 

Here is a description of the room in which I found the woman 
and her three children. Dirt and disorder were everywhere. The 
supper table was in the middle of the room, covered with unwashed 
dishes and what remained of the evening meal. The floor was 
partly covered by a filthy rag carpet, with rents here and there and 
ragged fringes at the unbound ends. A woman's soiled dress hung 
over one of the chairs, the sleeves resting on the floor; a dish- 
cloth, a pair of dirt-colored baby socks, a comfortable for the neck, 
which looked as though it had been dragged in the gutter, two old 
hats and a hood, ornamented the wall on one side, while strewn about 
on the floor and on the shelves were a motley collection of the most 
incongruous and unsightly things. A more disorderly and filthy 
room for a human habitation can hardly be imagined. 

" Where is your husband V I asked, after the baby's spasm was 
over. 

"He never stays in o' nights," she answered, in a whimpering 
tone, and with an injured look. 

" Where does he go ?" I asked. 

"To the tavern," she said, with a pulse of anger in her voice. 

" Where he finds things clean, orderly and comfortable," I 
remarked, glancing around the room, and then looking steadily at 
the woman, said, " I'm not much surprised; indeed, I would be 
more surprised to hear that he spent his evenings in a place like 
this!" 

"It's good enough for his wife and children," said she, rather 
spitefully, " and it ought to be good enough for him; why don't he 
save his money and get us a better home ?" 

"Rather poor encouragement," I answered, again glancing 
around the room. The woman's eyes followed mine, and begin- 
ning to comprehend my meaning, her face reddened, and she 
seemed disconcerted, saying "Not much chance with a sick baby 
and all the work to do, to keep things right;" she spoke in a half 
apologetic, half -injured tone of voice. 

"There's no excuse for dirt and disorder, Mrs. Reap," said I, 
" if you gave only ten minutes a day to putting things right, there 



MAKE HOME PLEASANT. 239 

would be some hope of your husband's staying away from the 
tavern and bad company; as it is, there's none, whatever. No 
man can spend his evenings in a hole like this." 

My disgust was strong and I was in no mood to conceal it, being 
out of all patience with the woman who was strong and hearty. I 
had seen her husband a few times and rather liked his looks, and 
was satisfied that his wife was more than half to blame for his vis- 
its to the tavern.' 

Mrs. Reap took the sick baby, now sleeping softly and laid it on 
a bed in the next room. Then she went bustling about in a half 
angry way, first pushing back the supper table and carrying the 
dishes off into a little outer kitchen; then clearing the chairs and 
walls from dirty garments and odds and ends of unsightly things, 
putting the scant furniture, and other articles on the floor and 
shelves in some kind of order. 

''Very much better," said I approvingly and in a gentler tone of 
voice, and it hasn't cost you ten minutes' work. A good half hour 
to-morrow morning with elbow grease and soap and water, would 
make such a change in this room that one would hardly know it, 
and what is more and better put heart into your husband, and may 
be if everything was made tidy and comfortable, keep him home 
from the tavern to-morrow evening." 

A light flashed into the woman's face, it was a new thought to 
her, "May be you're right ma'am," she answered, "I never looked 
at it so before . Dick does scold about things badly, and swears 
awfully sometimes, particularly when he has taken a glass or two, 
but IVe so little heart you see." 

"If a wife don't do her best to make home pleasant Mrs. Reap," 
I said, "she can't expect her husband to stay in it any longer than 
he can help; she should remember that there are saloons at almost 
every corner and in every block, nicely fitted up, cool and inviting, 
where he can find the comfort she has failed to provide for him at 
home; and where he meets temptation m its most alluring guise. 
It is my opinion that one-half of the married men, who spend their 
evenings in drinking houses, would never have fallen into the habit 
of going there if their homes had been made as inviting as in the 
power of their wives." 

"Maybe you're right ma'am," Mrs. Reap answered almost hum- 
bly and with self conviction in her tone, "I never thought of it 
before. Dick used to stay at home always when we were first 
married, and things about us looked new and nice; and now I 
think of it he first began to go out of evenings after Katy was born, 



240 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

and I began to let things drag and get out of sorts. Since then we 
kind of run down all the while, and he spent more and more of his 
time and wages at the drinking saloons, until I got so out of heart 
I did not care much how we lived. But, please God, I'll try and 
do better from this night. " 

" Stick to that, Mrs Reap, and only good can come of it," I 
replied; "your husband has not gone far astray I hope, seeing a 
change at home for the better he may take heart again." 

On the next evening I went around on the pretense of asking 
about the sick baby, but really to see if Mrs. Reap had made an ef- 
fort to carry out her good resolution. The door was opened in 
answer to my knock by Mr. Reap himself. I scarcely knew the 
room I entered as the one I had visited the night before. It had 
been thorougly cleaned — even the rag carpet had been taken up 
and beaten and the frayed ends trimmed and bound. All rubbish 
and unsightly things had been removed, and to my surprise I 
noticed a half muslin curtain, clean and white, stretched across the 
window. The supper table had been cleaned off, and there stood 
on it a nice glass lamp, beside which lay a newspaper that Mr. 
Reap had been reading when I knocked. 

"How is the little one to-night," I asked. Mrs. Reap was sitting 
with her baby on her lap, dressed in a clean, though faded calico 
wrapper, and with her hair smoothly brushed. I would hardly 
have known her for the repulsive looking woman I had visited on 
the evening before. "Better ma'am," she answered, "indeed he 
is most as well as ever. My husband, ma'am," introducing Mr. 
Reap, who bowed with an ease of manner that marked him as one 
possessing a native refinement. 

"You are quite comfortable here," I said, glancing about the 
room with a pleased air that was no counterfeit. 

"Yes, it is cozy and comfortable for a poor man," Reap answered 
with genuine satisfaction in his voice. 

I threw a look at his wife, who returned it with one of pleasing 
intelligence. ■ 

"Will it last?" That was my concerned question on going home. 
"It shall last," was my emphatic answer, "If help from me will 
do anything." 

And so I made it my duty to drop in upon Mrs. Reap every day 
or so. I soon saw that she needed just this. The fact that my 
eyes were upon her gave the outside pressure that kept her to her 
good resolutions when the tired limbs failed, or her weary mind 
drooped for lack of energy. Habit is always hard to overcome, 



MAKE HOME PLEASANT. 241 

and her long neglected habits made the new orderly life she was in 
the effort to live seem very wearisome at times. But I kept to my 
work and with the happiest results. 

It is not much over a } r ear now, and Mr. Reap and his wife are liv- 
ing in a snug little cottage just out of the city, with everything neat 
and wholesome around them. The children go cleanly dressed to 
school, and the husband and father finds home so pleasant that he 
has turned his back entirely on the saloons. 

What a grand lesson the above is to everyone with a good heart 
in them, and it should bo taken home by all. If you are careless 
and have bad habits, correct them; if you have good, correct habits 
go and do missionary work among your neighbors, as the above 
lady did. If it takes courage, break the ice at once and keep on at 
it, and you will do good, yet have pleasure and honor to follow you. 
There is too much of the little puppy like apologies about things 
that should be done that makes people that call feel they are not 
quite welcome, no difference what the honeying words may be. 
The sensible caller feels a contempt, yet smooths things over a 
little and does not often call again. 

When the caller is gone they and the family get a shaking up 
and the gossip is all fixed up for the next person seen. The 
wrinkles in their faces shows the deception and weakness of such 
apologizing persons, yet there is nothing more noble than a true, 
heart- felt apology where there is one due, and a common sense 
reason can be given for it. Please dispense with the sickly ones, 
and let the principle rough work be done in the morning. There 
is as much in the management as in the work. Be good generals 
in that line, ladies and gentlemen, and then with courage to do 
your whole duty, under all circumstances, you will use economy at 
all points, in neat repairing of a good article. IS ever have any- 
thing shoddy about you, in materials or character. Remember 
also, there is as much difference in reputation and character as 
there is between bad and good, and some misunderstanding, or 
some vile person, may injure your reputation for the time, but if 
you have a character 

HOLD TJP YOUR HEAD LDXE A MAN. 

If the stormy winds should rustle 

While you tread the world's highway 
Still against them bravely tussle, 

Hope and labor day by day. 



16 



242 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Falter not, no matter whether 

There is sunshine, storm or calm, 
And in every kind of weather, 

Hold your head up like a man. 

If a brother should deceive you, 

And should act a traitor's part, 
Never let his treason grieve you, 

Jo^ along with lightsome heart! 
Fortune seldom s follows fawning, 

Boldness is the only plan, 
Hoping for a better dawning, 

Hold your head up like a man. 

Earth, though e'er so rich and mellow, 

Yields not for the worthless drone, 
But the bold and honest fellow, 

He can shift and stand alone; 
Spurn the knave of every nation, 

Always do the best you can, 
And no matter what your station. 

Hold your head up like a man. 

HAVE YOU PROSPERED OR FAILED. 

Now as the summer is almost ended, whertker you are saved or 
not, we will look back a moment and take it for granted that you 
started with nearly nothing — and you may have held your own well 
as many others have done or you may have u buried your talent," 
and now found wanting, by bad habits, bad management, or injury 
from the fortunes of war or otherwise, that may or may not be 
remedied yet in the fall time of life. But it is supposable that in 
the contact with the world, flesh and devil, you soon knocked off 
the bloom, and the real pretty bud made its appearance, and soon 
the young green fruits of your marriage and farm or otherwise 
made their appearance, both making home happy. These good 
fruits coming on annually or biennially so on, if you don't miss a 
crop, you should have in the course of this twenty-live years or 
less, quite a large family, and property in due proportion, and 
experience and strength of body and mind, gained by work and 
study, and contending with the many head winds on the sea of 
life that fits you for the fall work of life. 

BUT REMEMBER FATHERS, 

"If you wish to train up your child in the way, he should go, just skirmish 
ahead on that line yourself," said wise Josh Billings, and if he was not addressing 
fathers or thinking of boys, he ought to have been. The writer was present once 
at a social religious meeting, when a very large man with a very large nose, and 



TRAINING CHILDREN. 243 

no doubt a very large heart, also, arose and used his space of time to tell what a 
good mother he had, and how her influence had guided him, and finished with an 
exortation to all mothers to make good men of their boys. 

The divines followed in a sim^ar strain and ended with the same exhortation, 
and all the brethren settled themselves more comfortably into their seats, and all 
the sisters bowed their heads with meek faces as if sweetly taking up the heavy 
burden thus flatteringly laid upon their frail shoulders. No, not all; for one sat 
bolt upright, too indignant for speech, to see those great broad-shouldered men 
thus calmly shirking the greatest responsibility God ever called them to bear. 

Because some mothers blessed with mighty faifeh and powerful will, have borne 
their sons triumphantly over the quicksands of youthful temptations and planted 
their feet firmly on the pleasant upland of righteous manhood, shall it be demanded 
of every frail woman to whom God has given a son, that she do the same? No; 
with equal justice it might be demanded of every woman that she write books like 
Mrs. Stowe, entrance large audiences like Miss Willard and Anna Dickinson, or 
be a brilliant newspaper correspondent like Mary Clemmer. 

What weight has a mother's word when weighed against a father's example? 
The mother says: "My son do not smoke; it is bad for your health, bad for the 
purse, bad for the morals, and the pleasure it affords is triffling compared to the 
evil it works." 

"What does mother know about smoking?" reasons the boy; "she never smokes; 
father smokes, and I'm going to, too." 

"Don't spend your evenings about the bar-room and village store," pleads the 
troubled mother; "the conversation there is not such as I wish you to listen to." 

"What does mother know about bar-room talk?" questions the boy; she is at 
home rocking the baby or darning stockings; father is there, and I'm going." 

One out-spoken ten year old boy said: "I like my mother well enough; but I 
think father is a great deal smarter;" and he expressed the feeling of the aver- 
age boy when he enters his teens. Now, which parent is likely to have most 
influence in forming the character of that son? 

"I'll take what father takes," said the boy at the hotel dinner table, and boys 
are taking what their fathers take all the world over, 

A father and son were clambering up the rough, steep sides of a mountain, 
when the father paused to decide which of many paths to take; the boy said: "Be 
sure to choose a good path, father, for I am coming right behind you." 

Fathers upon the hillside of life, be sure you choose a "good path," for your sons 
are just behind, and almost certain to follow in your footsteps. If the bewitching 
voice or pleasure entices you into by-paths of self-indulgence and sin, remember 
that where you trip he will stumble, and the same foul mire that soils your raiment 
will engulf him. But if you choose to walk the pleasant highways of temperance, 
virtue and Christian manliness, he shall keep even step with you, and at last dwell 
in peace at your side. 

"The just man walketh in his integrity; his children are blessed after him." 

And now allow me to hope you have trained your many children 
up as directed in the spring time lesson here given. Then with 
Ruth Revere you should remember. 

The children are growing up — ere long 
You'll miss the notes of their merry song 
As they cluster in glee about you; 



244 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Ah, never from them unheeding turn, 

For the saddest lesson young hearts can learn 

Is that of living without you. 

The children are growing up. 

The children are growing up — then see 
That the morning hour all sunshine be 

While the dew still freshens the blossom; 
Else the day will come when the years have flown, 
You'll long for the little ones, once your own, 

To press to your lonely bosom. 
The children are growing up. 

The children are growing up — oh, now, 

You may bind them with silken cord, I trow, 

Neither time nor distance can sever; 
Then the men and women who go and come 
Across the threshold of the childhood's home, 

Will be "Ma's" and "Pa's" children forever. 
The children are growing up. 

THE AUTUMN OF LIFE — A MODEL-SIZED FAMILY — THE FIRST WEDDING- 
-^-A WEDDING- IN HIGH CIRCLES.^ 

" Happy is the bride that the sun shines on," is an adage which comes to the 
minds of many who possess a tinge of superstition. After the cold, dreary days 
of the week, Wednesday morning, October 7, 1891, dawned bright and clear to 
witness the marriage ceremony of Miss Stella C. Richards and Mr. Harry J. Bryson, 
which was solemnized at the beautiful home of A. W. Richards, on Howard street, 
at 8:30 A. m., on the above date. 

The event was announced a few days ago, but only the relatives of the contract- 
ing parties were present. The bride, dressed in a princess frock of pearl grey 
albatross, with feather trimmings, and slippers and gloves to match, and the 
groom, in the regulation Prince Albert of dark goods, advanced to the altar in the 
south parlor, to the music of the Wedding March— Marche Aux Flambeaux — ren- 
dered by Miss Jessie Bryson, sister of the groom. The ceremony was performed 
by Rev. Madison A. Richards, D. D., the bride's uncle, of Hamilton, Ohio, in a 
solemn and impressive manner, after which the newly wedded pair received the 
congratulations of their friends. 

The home was beautifully decorated with choice flowers. Fruits of various kinds 
and in abundance were served as refreshments, and the event was greatly enjoyed 
by all present. 

The bride is the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Richards, was born 
and raised in Indianola and is a young lady of rare grace and accomplishments. 

The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Bryson, was likewise brought up in 
Indianola, and is a young man worthy the hand of such a bride. Being so well 
known, this pair have innumerable friends who wish them every success and all 
happineee in life. They will immediately go to housekeeping at a home already 
provided in the southeast part of the city. The Herald joins with all the friends 
in wishing these young people a happy journey through life. 



THE AUTUMN 01 LIFE. 245 

THE AUTUMN OF LIFE. 

Every person has two educations, one which he receives from others, and 
one, more important, which he gives to himself. — Gibson. 

The honorable gray hairs are now supposed to be making their 
appearance, as the result of the frosts of many winters, and the 
preparations necessary therefor, each year being a step in that 
golden ladder, of which you have reached the center round. 

When you started, forty or fifty years ago, you were but a little 
twig, every little breeze disturbed you, but, like the little sprout 
from the acorn, you grew with every shake of the wind, giving you 
better understanding and top sail; thus going on from year to 
year, learning from others and possibly by sad, rough, hard expe- 
rience. The gentle breezes of life are occasionally disturbed by- 
hard winds, storms and hurricanes; but, like the oak, the true, 
brave, noble spirit becomes stronger and still stronger, all along 
the inclined plane of life. 

If you have cultivated the natural spark that was your inheri- 
tance, all along up through the spring and summer seasons of life, 
as a true woman or man, you should be as the sturdy oak, with its 
leaves, branches and fruits; with a strong body still growing and 
becoming stronger, so as to be of greater use, and give nourish- 
ment to that God like crown that you are favored with, above the 
oak, and all else terrestial. 

All do not attain to such conditions, but the young should strive 
for it. For such are the persons we should look to for counsel and 
direction, while young and inexperienced in the duties, cares and 
responsibilities falling to our share of life. 

Such persons if successful, financially, will, during this period, 
be enlarging prudently their barns, store houses, and already com- 
fortable cottages, to meet the requirements of increasing wealth. 
He wants a little cottage or farm or business for each branch of the 
family tree, so they may have an easier beginning than their 
parents had. I have learned, as Josh Billings puts it, that " the 
best way to train up a child in the way he should go is to travel 
that road occasionally yourself." Parents should set a good exam- 
ple for their children, and encourage and assist them in starting 
into business and become self-supporting, and in return the chil- 
dren should show gratitude, which cannot be accomplished in a 
more satisfactory manner than by trying to outstrip the father and 
mother in all their good qualities, then parents and children are 
alike happy. How would you and they feel if you were to take an 



246 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

opposite course and go slowly downward by degrees, hardly per- 
ceptible, until irretrievably lost in digrace and dishonor ? 

Young reader, take warning in time and climb the golden ladder 
higher. 

Every parent will learn, if they have not anticipated it, that this 
is the period that will make the greatest demands on their resources, 
mentally and financially. The young hopefuls, with education 
completed, have lofty ideas, generally prompted by a desire to 
go here and there and "see something of the world " — a desire 
which should be gratified within reasonable bounds, taking into 
consideration the amount of available means at command. Then 
follow weddings, and if there is love and intelligence there will be 
no need of great display, but simply a common sense recognition 
of tne gravity of the event. 

"Love is like the melody 

That's sweetly placed in tune," and, 
"The mind the music breathing from the face, 

Parents often feel. 
0, could you view the melody 

Of every grace, 
And music of her pace, 

You'd drop a tear." 

It's frequently very hard for parents to give up those bright stars 
that give " A feast of reason and a flow of soul." 

But where the prospects of son or daughter are good for their 
happiness and future good, that is a palliative. But this is not all 
one sided, where home is a model of goodness and happiness it will 
still be felt to be home by the children, and they will say in their 
heart of hearts. "Do they miss me at home?" Echo answers 
back, "Yes, dear one." 

Then when all are doing right what a pleasure to visit son or 
daughter and companions, or to have them visit home. "The old, 
old home, and tell the story of their love. 

What, though no grants of royal dowers. 

With pompous titles grace our blood; 
We'll shine in more substantial honors, 

And to be noble we'll be good. 

TIME AND ORDER. 

Such parents as described are of that noble, virtuous, intelligent 
kind that have some system about their life work. First these 
days they will cultivate cleanliness, purity of person and habits, 
avoiding the narcotics and stimulants that do not promote health 




4J 









TIME AND ORDER. 247 

or usefulness, and be ready, by example, to advise others to do so, 
and farther to advise younger people to divide their time, daily, 
about as follows: Bight hours of diligent labor, the same for 
reading, meditation, recreation and refreshments, and eight hours 
refreshing sleep, regularly, from nine o'clock to five o'clock, or an 
hour earlier to bed, will frequently better it. Late hours are not 
to be recommended by any intelligent person, and system is abso- 
lutely necessary to the best success for a natural life time. Ee- 
member that order is one of the highest natural laws. Hence the 
confidence we have in the return of day and night, summer and 
winter. So we feel in regard to men that have reached this period 
of life, when every step of the way up the ladder has been firm, 
straightforward and upright. 

They may have held many minor offices during these years. 

But this is the period and kind of men to select for the offices, 
from justices, administrators, treasurers, county, state and national 
officers, and there are thousands of them untried in any position of 
trust, that would fill these positions of state and nation as honora- 
bly and successfully as those that have received the greatest honors. 

It is expected of every one who would aim to fill this bill in any 
sense that he should be a regular, systematic reader, a student from 
his school days on up through life. That his library be in propor- 
tion to his resources, if not superior to that point. That his family 
be well supplied with the best attainable literature, these are not 
the kind of men that fail to even take their own county paper from 
every number of which you may learn something of use to you if it 
is drawn by inference. And my observation is that our western 
county papers are equal to the best of eastern papers of that grade. 
Besides they are our mouth pieces that should be supported, if 
good, heartily, regardless of politics. 

If capitalists cannot see that it would pay to build railroads 
themselves, it would pay every public spirited man to aid them by 
tax or otherwise. Just as it will factories, colleges, and public 
enterprises generally. But here still the duty and privilege to 
faithfully remember the poor and needy, saint and sinner, first, 
last, and all the time. It will give the good man pleasure and the 
goodly poor and others will say 

WHAT WAS HIS CREED? 

He left a load of anthracite 

In front of a poor widow's door, 
When the deep snow, frozen and white, 

Wrapped street and square, mountain and moor. 



248 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

That was his deed; 
He did it well. 
" What was his creed ?" 
I cannot tell. 

Blest "in his basket and his store," 

In sitting down and rising up, 
When more he got, he gave the more, 
Withholding not the crust and cup. 
He took the lead 
In each good task — 
" What was his creed?" 
I did not ask. 

His charity was like the snow, 

Soft, white and silken in its fall; 
Not like the noisy winds that blow 
From shivering trees the leaves a pall 
For flower and weed 
Dropping below. 
" What was his creed? 11 
The poor may know. 

He had great faith in loaves of bread 
For hungry people, young and old; 
And hope-inspiring words he said 
To him he sheltered from the cold. 
For man must feed 
As well as pray. 
" What was his creed? 11 
I cannot say. 

In words he did not put his trust; 

In faith his words were never writ; 
He loved to share his cup and crust 
With any one who needed it. 
In time of need 
A friend was he. 
" What was his creed? 11 
He told not me. 

He put his trust in heaven, and worked 

Ever along with hand and head; 
And what he gave in charity 
Sweetened his sleep and daily bread. 
Let us take heed, 

For life is brief! 
Adopt his creed 
And give relief. 

Men with such warm hearts are not the kind that settle down in 
the time-worn rats in their politics, studies, or religion, for as time 
moves on the scales fall from their eyes, by investigation, into the 



FINANCES. 249 

science and philosophy of each of these subjects, as well as other 
things. The churches have dared even to revise the Bible, and 
ten years spent on it shows they, while striking out many passages, 
have greatly improved many parts of the new testament, as other 
councils have done before. Now the churches, generally, are 
improving their creeds. 

THE MONEY QUESTION. 

The first thing the infant does after blowing the trumpet to 
inform the world that he has arrived, is to seek for the nourish- 
ment necessary to sustain life. We all very naturally continue 
the search even down to old age, and as we do not all get the 
necessary substance directly from mother earth, we have settled 
down on to a more convenient commodity in the articles of gold 
and silver, etc., to represent values and thus transact business, to 
get the nourishment more conveniently, than it was in the days 
when coon skins and tobacco, etc., etc., were a legal tender. 
Values of all articles of commodity are affected by supply and 
demand, so that many articles vacillate so much that they will not 
be safe to rely on as a standard . 

But after so many centuries, silver and gold have been settled 
down as the least vacillating and most convenient article to use in 
transacting any business necessary among men. Their intrinsic 
value are approximated by the greatest average amount of labor 
necessary to get them into use. The value of labor is varied by 
circumstances, also to reach what would be equitable. Then the 
total average being reached it is taken as the standard value of 
labor. Thus getting at the approximate value of silver and gold, 
and it is just now being arranged for by several Nations, to have a 
meeting to settle their value between the great powers. Many 
preier for convenience a script, or certificate on paper, based on 
gold and silver, deposited in some place considered safe, that is 
being used. We still have the legal tender " green back" notes 
used as a war necessity during the rebellion, amounting to 
$346,000,000, based on the faith of the liability of the government 
to pay said bills whenever the people wish or present them. The 
resumption of specie payment having been carried out in 1880, 
these with a larger amount of national bank notes now in circula- 
tion, are all now as good as £old and silver, 1892. The latter is 
based on a deposit of ninety per cent of government bonds, by the 
bank issuing the notes. There being abundance of gold and silver 
at this time, with good crops, the nations are prosperous. 



250 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

There's been a clamor by a small party recently for the issue of 
a large amount of the legal tender notes, some going so far as to 
advocate the propriety of making them take the place of our bonds 
to the extent of our national debt. All such should read the his- 
tory of the three greatest inflation periods. 

First, that known as the John Law inflation in France. During 
the regency of the Duke of Orleans the people had gone too fast 
and got in debt, hard times called for a remedy. Under the advice 
of Law paper currency was issued from time to time, till it 
amounted to 1,225,000,000 livres, and the people prospered for a 
short period then were worse than before, their currency becoming 
worthless. 

Second^ our own country was the scene of the next experiment. 
In 1775 our continental congress commenced issuing bills, pledging 
the faith of the States that it should be paid in 1792; they kept on 
issuing bills from time to time making stringent laws to compel 
people to take them, till the people lost about $200,000,000. In 
1781 the people suffered untold misery. At this time the govern- 
ment issued more bills paying one dollar of these for forty dollars 
of former issue, and after the legal tender laws of the states were 
repealed, one dollar in gold would buy five hundred of the old 
issue. 

Third again in France in 1789 they became deeply involved in 
debt and had a scarcity of revenue. 

The idea of paper currency was broched as an easy escape from 
the difficulty, and captivated the rabble. The former John Law 
experience was cited, but the people liLid become excited, and 
resolved to "gang their ain gait." In 1790 the issue was begun. 
It gave relief at first, but the more there was issued the worse was 
the distrust, even the compulsory laws failed, and they found law 
was not omnipotent. More and more being issued from time to 
time, it reached the enormous sum of their national debt, 47,500,- 
000,000 franc. This out principally among the peasantry by 1796 
and worth nothing, the last and best issue only worth five cents on 
the dollar. 

All of these proved worse than a bankrupt law, they ended in 
virtual repudiation, and terrible distress among the people. Since 
that, all has been governed by specie bosses. 

THE UNITED STATES BEATS THE WORLD- 

During liie late war our necessities were so great that paper cur- 
rency called "green backs 1 ' were issued, and other scrip till at the 



FINANCES. 



251 



close of the war our gold dollar would buy two dollars and forty 
cents of the paper, norwithstanding our government had pledged 
herself not to issue to exceed four hundred millions of that kind of 
paper, but the government soon proceeded to pay off part 
of them, and they gradually came back to a specie basis, and the 
credit of the government is equal if not superior to the best in the 
world. 

THE CIRCULATING- MEDIUM. 

Responding to numerous inquiries, Secretary of the Treasury Foster has issued 
a statement showing the amounts of various kinds of money in circulation in the 
United States during the past thirty years. The amount in circulation at the dates 
specified and the per capita circulation is shown in the subjoined table: 





ai 


u 

ft 


YEAR. 


a 73 


"§=* 




5§ 

O eh 


Eft 




So 


s£ 




< 


<i 



I860 


$ 435,407,252 * 13.8S 


1861 


448,405,767 

334,697,744 

595,394,038 

669,641,478 

714,702,995 

673,488,244 

661,992,069 

680,163,661 

664,452,891 

675,212.794 

715,889,005 

738,309,549 

751,881,809 

776,083,031 

754,101,947 

727,609,388 

722,314,883 

729,132,634 

818,631,793 

973,382,228 

1,114,238,119 

1,171.290,419 

1,230,305,696 

1,243,925,969 

1,292.563,615 

1,252,700,525 

1,317.539,143 

1,372,170.870 

1,380,361,649 

1,429,251,270 

1,500,067,555 


13.98 


1862 


10.23 


1863 


17 84 


1864 

1865 


19.67 

20.57 


1866 


18.99 


1867 


18.28 


1868 


18 39 


1869 


17.69 


1870 

3871 


17.50 
18.10 


1872 


1S.19 


1873 


18.04 


1874 


18 13 


1875 


17.16 


1876 


16.12 


1877 


15 58 


1878 


15.32 


1879 


18 75 


1880 


19 41 


1881 


21 71 


1882 


22.37 


1883 


22.91 


1884 


22.65 


1885 


23 02 


1886 


21.82 


1887 


22.45 


1888 


22.88 


1889 


22 52 


1890 

1891 


22.82 
23.45 



These figures show conclusively that any present complaint about 
scarcity of money is due to something besides insufficiency of the 
circulating medium. A person who has anything to sell that peo- 
ple want — goods, labor, and so on — is rarely troubled about scarc- 
ity of money. 

These things are given as facts in history, and not in the interest 
of the party, for all parties are liable to become "inflated and 
burst," and any one of them, as one of our congressmen has it in 
the following lines, may get in an awful. fix. 



252 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Alas! we are unfortunate! 

Upon our palpitating- brow- 
To wear the cruel ban of Fate, 

And we will put on mourning now. 
What howling idiots we've been, 

A cutting up fantastic tricks! 
'Tis plain enough what we are in — 

We're in a fix! We're in a fix! 
We're in an awful fix! 

We capture Congress in a day;. 

Again we call the country ours; 
Alas ! we find the Bourbon way 

Beset by diabolic powers; 
For as we near the victor's goal, 

We hear the murmur of the Styx; 
To death we're rushing, like Parole! 

We're in a fix! We're in a fix! 
We're in an awful fix ! 

To the militia, wheeling there, 

The army is subordinate; 
And so we merely just declare 

The Nation subject to the State. 
For simply that, and that alone, 

The President a quarrel picks, 
And with his Veto knocks us down — 

We're in a fix! We're in a fix! 
We're in an awful fix! 

The Fed'ral troops excite our fears, 

Their very presence makes a muss; 
For pretty nearly twenty years 

You've let 'em keep annoying us. 
Now s'posin soldiers are around, 

And s'pose they spoil our little tricks, 
0, where can freedom then be found? 

We're in a fix! We're in a fix! 
We're in an awful fix! 

We've wasted months of precious time, 

We've squandered millions left and right, 
And hoarded truth and sheltered crime 
To help our party in the fight. 

In vain our agonies have been, 
For all the net results is "nix;" 

'Tis plain enough what we are in — 
We're in a fix! We're in a fix! 
We're in an AW-FUL fix! ' 



PHRENOLOGY. 



253 




JOHN H. CRAIG, 
725 pounds at 36 years of age. 

PHRENOLOGY — VITAL TEMPERAMENT IN EXCESS. 

Mr. Craig is better known as John H. Powers, the Kentucky- 
giant; being born in Franklin county. He was six feet, four inches 
when I saw him. He grew heavier before his death a few years 
ago. He had married the second time. He had a powerful will 
force backed by his great vitality. 

Phrenology is one of the most important and useful studies that I 
ever found. It is a system of mental philosophy, founded on the 
physiology of the brain. It treats of mind as we know it in this 
mortal life, associated with matter and acting through material in- 
struments. In its practical application, phrenology becomes an 
art and consists in judging from the head itself and from the body 
in connection with the head, what are the natural tendencies and 
capabilities of the individual. 

Twenty years' observation in a quiet home practice of this science 
has fully demonstrated the rich truths in it to my satisfaction. 
While no one claims perfection for it, it will come as near as those 
things they do. It is a study that any ordinarily bright person 
can soon get a good general idea of, but it is deep, wide, and far 



254 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

reaching enough to thoroughly test the best minds of a nation. 
Pope says, "The proper skidy of mankind is man." 

In reading history you may soon discover the standpoint of the 
writer. Every apostle has no doubt manifested his make up. 
See the St. Paul with his vigorous self will. See James with his 
loving, charitable spirit. See John, the revelator, with his roman- 
tic idealism. The author of Pilgrim's Progress, another of the 
latter. There are plenty of men that would deny this from their 
teeth out, that practice this very thought, even in the pulpit, and 
use illustrations frequently, based on the principles of phrenology, 
without giving it credit; but the best men use and give credit to it. 

I have found a few so blind they would not see. I knew one 
man well versed in it who denied his faith, Peter like, to truckle to 
a superior, but he had a peculiar weakness, yet used it in many 
ways. It is growing strong in the west, especially its natural off- 
shoot, physiognomy, by which men read each other's faces, readily 
— a necessity for success in any public business. 

Physiology of man is so various as to make it always interest- 
ing. Quality is an important factor at all times to get at the real 
value of the bodily or mental conditions, the same as it is in every- 
thing in nature. (i Size, other things being equal, is the measure of 
power." This being true, then from the relative size, quality and 
conditions of the physiological make up of the person, we divide 
the subject into three classes, called temperaments. 

First. The Motive temperament. Persons in whom the bone 
and muscle predominate, the bones are generally long and prom- 
inent about the joints. They are frequently tough, hardy people, 
and can stand hard labor very well; if inactive, they generally 
become bilious, and feel u Oh, so bad and discouraged," and if 
not possessed with an excellent organization of mind, are likely to 
make it very unpleasant for others, or they may become imitators of 
General Jackson. 

Second. The Vital temperament. Persons having large chest, 
giving the vital organs an abundance of room to act, digest well, 
and frequently have an over supply of flesh, which often proves to 
be a burden to them; if the mind is not well supplied with literary 
food, they may and frequently do become slothful, but in cases 
where sufficient action is kept up to keep all the tissues in normal 
condition, they may endure a great deal of labor, if not extremely 
hard labor. They " laugh and grow fat," and afford excellent 
characters for judges and senators. 



A HEAVENLY GOSSIP. 255 

Third. The Mental temperaments are those with a relatively 
large nerve force, active, bright, with large top head, tapering 
down, as does also the body, more smoothly and regularly. If in 
a diseased condition from the use of tea, coffee, tobacco or other 
stimulants, they are spoken of as nervous; but when in a healthy 
condition are capable of becoming the finest mechanics, artists, 
scholars and thinkers. When we find a person with these qualities 
all well combined we call them well balanced. 

But there is a vast variety of these combinations and qualities; 
so that it becomes a desirable study to those who want to think and 
grow better. Fowler & Wells, at No. 753 Broadway, New York, 
publish everything pertaining to the subject, and a variety of other 
subjects, at low rates; send for a catalogue. The subject is of too 
much importance for me to do it justice in my space, if I could. 

A HEAVENLY GOSSIP. 
{By an old friend.) "By Jupiter.'* 

Ever since the morning stars sang together, Mr. Jupiter has been coquetting 
among his neighbors. One fine evening last November, he spied Miss Venus 
taking her usual walk, and as she appeared very lovely, he exerted his power to 
entice her away from her father. But the old gentleman told her to stay within 
certain bounds. So Mr. Jupiter, taking advantage of the long dark nights, made 
rapid strides toward this celestial beauty. Observing this, Mr. Mercury stepped 
upon the rostrum and, with great eloquence, admonished Miss Venus to stay near 
him in the light. But the wayward miss, thinking only of Mr. Jupiter's splendor 
and her own beauty, seemed inclined to wander to the outer most limits of her 
prescribed path, in the direction of this splendid gallant. Mr. Saturn, observing 
the signs of the times, and guessing Mr. Jupiter's intention, put himself in 
motion, as he said, to look after these love-sick children. Miss Luna, the ancient 
maiden lady, having never been pierced with Cupid's shaft, says as she flits past, 
"I never saw such a love-sick set! You'll get up a first class heavenly scandal! 
so you will! You should remember that you do not live in Chicago! nor Brooklyn, 
but where the eyes of all the worlds are upon you! Nest hiding won't pay, nor 
save you here! And you know as well as I do that people will talk!" Mr. Mars, 
knowing full well that intense hatred and wars are likely to follow complicated 
love affairs, marshals his hosts for any emergency that may arise. Uranus and 
Neptune even are excited and making distant strides to be on hand at the grand 
levee of heavenly bodies now rapidly approaching. Mr. Sirius standing up in the 
east addresses this convocation as follows: "My dear little children, you seem to 
be in a turmoil of excitement, like many a lad or lassie in their first excitement of 
intoxicating love. You seem to think that you were never so situated before, and 
to desire to break away from all restraint and parental influence; but this is the 
fault of the observer only. Will you all listen while I tell the story?" A tumult- 
ous shout of "Yes! yes! yes!" made all confusion. "I am king," said Jupiter, "I 
command silence!" "Your kind parent, the Sun," continued Mr. Sirius, "is a dis- 
tant relative of mine tho' much younger than myself. He gives you all your light, 
heat, and life by mingling his positive emanations with your negative emanations. 



256 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Constant streams of these currents, called by different names, are flowing from all 
bodies in all directions at all times. Knowing what you would need the kind 
Father has supplied them most bountifully before you asked them. He holds you 
in your places and sends you spinning like tops, millions of miles thro' space, by 
fixed laws called 'attraction' and 'repulsion.' Now you are ever obeying these 
laws, and your seeming turmoil is only apparent. Now look in the direction that 
I point. ' Uranus and Neptune will need their glasses.) Do you see that small 
starlooking individual?" "0, yes, how puny it looks." "Well, now, I want to 
tell you about that little star and its inhabitants." "Inhabitants!" they all exclaim. 
"Yes, this star or planet, which is one of your family, has inhabitants, similar to 
your own, consisting of many forms of life, the highest of which are, considering 
their rudimentary conditions, quite intelligent. They call themselves 'human 
bipeds.' They have, with some degree of accuracy, measured your distances and 
computed your magnitudes and motions. But of the Sun, or myself, they know 
little or nothing. Well, these human beings call the little ball on which they live, 
the 'Earth.' They have many strange notions or beliefs, among which is one that 
the earth is soon to be destroyed. This belief, shared in by many, has been enter- 
tained a long time; in fact was among the first that dawned in their minds. Their 
so-called religious books all entertain it. So now Wuen they observe your convoca- 
tion coming on, their minds are filled with vague fears and apprehensions. So»ne 
fix a day for this catastrophe to happen; and then working psychologically, upon im- 
pressible and sympathetic minds, drive many to hopeless and incurable insanity. 
These so-called learned men and women have been trying to figure out that tnis 
awful destruction of their mud ball was to take place in the year eighteen hundred 
and eighty-one. They think the earth about six thousand years old; consequently 
about ripe for the sickle of the angel of death. But some of you know the earth to 
be more than six million of years old." "Why, I saw the earth when it had a head 
and tail like a tadpole, only it looked like it was red hot or a little hotter," said 
Uranus. "Yes, I saw that little thing when it was a white heat comet," said Nep- 
tune. "I remember once it came so near me that I threatened to catch and spank 
it for running away from home." A hearty ha! ha! ha! came from al! at Nep- 
tune's witticism. Mr. Sirius then resumed: "Now if these earth bipeds were truly 
wise or learned, they would know that the earth is still in its babyhood, and in 
no more danger now, than it has been in all time since its birth, of any constitu- 
tional calamity. Neither of you, nor your Sun has ever been twice in the same 
point in space; for all are moving, through space, around a common remote center. 
The time, required to make one of these grand rounds, is more than I am able to 
compute. But I am assured, by one much older than myself, that not one jot or 
one atom shall be destroyed until a grand round is completed by your entire solar 
system, In the* mean time, many things, predicted by both ancient and modern 
seers, will be fulfilled on earth instead of in some imaginary world as taught by 
some earth bipeds. 'Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in 
heaven,' and 'Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass 
from the law till all be fulfilled," are truths that have been proclaimed to the inhab- 
itants of all worlds. So now, my dear children, if earth's inhabitants would enjoy, 
they must obey the laws of life. Then they would keep clear of Mother Shiptonism, 
Millerism, Adventism, Spiritualism, or any other 'ism,' 'ology/ or 'pathy;' and all 
other skin diseases, itch after wealth, place, or power; keep out of lawyers' clutches; 
avoid judges, justices, doctors, and priests, as they would poisonous serpents; then 
practice the Golden Rule one with another without interpretation, then the king- 
dom of 'Harmony' would tall upon the earth like the gentle dew. Then no son or 



MIND READING. 257 

daughter of earth would be willing to exchange for any imaginary world told of 
in allegory, or in fabled books. Every natural desire would find a natural gratifi- 
cation ; and unnatural desires would pass away. Mortals and immortals would sup 
together on earth. Death would lose all its terrors, and the grave become useless 
in the victory of life. Knowledge is the savior most needed. Ignorance is what 
they need to be saved from. So, now, dear children let us move on in the ever- 
lasting love and h^mc-ny of the Infinite, hoping all will cease to do evil and learn 
to do good for the sake of the good. Wisdom without folly, will neither desire nor 
prophesy the destruction of any of nature's works. So good-bye." 



MIND READING. 

Having become interested in this subject, I had some correspond- 
ence with Mr. J. R. Brown, who created much sensation by his 
wonderful power. Then he came here so I became acquainted with 
him to see his personal make up. He is a negative, sensitive of very 
fine qualities, so that any person of a strong positive will, will make 
an impression on his mind that will enable him to tell what they 
think, as I saw verified, both by his touch of their forehead and 
through a wire some twelve feet long, like telephoning. We se- 
lected a committee of our best citizens, that took every precaution 
to detect any trick, and guarded at every point, much as set forth 
in the following tests at Philadelphia by the learned committee, 
and Mr. Brown gave us tests equal to the following: 

Experiment 1. Professor James Wilson, of the High School, was selected by 
the committee from the audience, and Mr. Brown, being taken into an ante-room, 
the professor, walking down one of the aisles, dropped a spectacle- glass upon the 
floor. Then returning and ascending the platform, Mr. Brown was brought in 
blindfolded. He then took the professor's left hand in his, and, first placing his 

17 



258 PROGRESS OF LIFL AND THOUGHT. 

own right hand on his own forehead, placed it for a minute on that of the profess- 
or and removing it, but still holding- the latter by his left- hand, walked rapidly- 
down the stairs from the platform, then down the centre aisle, then back again, 
then in front of the platform to the western aisle until he reached the exact spot 
where the glass had been dropped, and picked it up. The blindfolding and hand- 
clasping process and forehead manipulations were in each of the following experi- 
ments the same as in this. 

Experiment 2. Hon. Allison White having mentally selected' a person in the 
audience, his selection unknown to any but himself, Mr. Brown having first stated 
that he would follow the thought of Mr. White to that person, moved with him 
briskly off the platform, and after walking down the centre aisle returned as before 
and then walking into a side aisle placed his hand on the head of Professor Allen, 
of Girard College, and said, "This is the man." "Right/' said Mr. White. 

Experiment o. Professor Allen having mentally selected a route down and back 
in the centre aisle, then half way down the western and return, then halfway down 
the eastern and leturn, the exact route was followed by Mr. Brown, who appeared 
to have some difficulty in dragging with him the avoirdupois of the Profc ssor. 

Experiment 4. Mr. Brown asked any gentleman in the audience, who was 
suffering from an ache or pain in any part of the body, to come upon the platform, 
who should state to the committee only where the prdn or ache was located and he 
would discover the spot. A gentleman, unknown to the "Times" reporter, an- 
swered the invitation, Mr. Brown, blindfolded and manipulating as usual with his 
disengaged hand, finally tapped the subject upon the front of the head. The 
gentleman and a member of the committee pronounced the location correct, the 
former having been suffering from a severe headache all day. 

Experiment r >. Dr. James, of the Philadelphia Dispensary, was the subject of a 
similar experiment, Mr. Brown placing, after some hesitation, his hand on the 
knee of the doctor. The committee hesitated for a moment. Finally, Professor 
Neill stated to the audience that the result was not altogether satisfactory to the 
committee, although the doctor was perfectly satisfied. The professor said that 
Dr. James having had his right leg amputated at the knee, and wearing an artifi- 
cial lower limb, had informed the committee that his right toe pained him. 
[Laughter in the audience.] "Nothing unusual, gentlemen, I assure you," said 
the professor; "strange as it may seem, it is well known to surgeons that persons 
who have had limbs amputated, frequently suffer from pain in the part they have 
lost, nnd when Mr. Brown put his hand on Dr. James' knee the committee were 
not satisfied; however, the Doctor can explain further." The Doctor then said 
that while he did feel a pain in the toe of his lost limb when he told the committee 
yet when Mr. Brown took hold of him, that abandoned him, and instead he felt a 
soreness in the stump where it fitted in the socket of the artificial limb, upon which 
soreness his mind was then at once fixed. Therefore, Mr. Brown was, after all, 
perfectly right. [Long and continued applause.] 

Experiment 6 was similar to the two preceding, except that the subject was to 
magine a pain somewhere in his body. This was successfully performed upon Mr. 
D. T. Pratt, who located the pain on the right side of his right ankle. 

Experiment 7. Mr. Brown being again taken into the ante-worn, State Senator 
Horatio G. Jones was selected to give an article unknown to any but himself to any 
one he chose, who was in turn to give the same article to a third person unknown 
to the Senator, who was to secrete it where neither of the other two knew. Sena- 
tor Jones, therefore, gave his knife (as it afterward appeared) to Mr. H. B. Muir- 
head, who, in turn, gave it to Mr. James Somers Smith, who hid it. Mr. Brown 



MIND READING. 259 

then returning and clasping hands with Senator Jones, after a walk up and down 
one aisle, and another, and another, that bid fair to out- Weston Weston, discovered 
Mr. Muirhead. and seizing that gentleman, after some hesitation pounced upon 
Mr Smith. Then taking charge of Mr. Smith, he searched and searched until he 
declared himself weary; that Mr. Smith was an unfit subject, and asked that any 
gentleman in the audience might be substituted for him, he to inform the substi- 
tute where the article was secreted. In the meantime, Mr. Smith ascended the 
platform (Mr. Brown still standing in the aisle), and talked with the committee, 
whereupon Mr. Dougherty announced to the audience that Mr. Brown was not in 
fault— that Mr. Sinith had just informed the committee that he had really forgotten 
where he had hidden the article. [Laughter.] 

Senator Jones — I am the only one left in the lurch. I have lost my knife. [Roars 
of laughter.] 

Experiment 8 was the discovery by Mr. Brown of a silver surgical instrument in 
the vest pocket cf Professor Hartshorne, where it had been put by that gentleman 
while Mr. Brown was in the ante-room. 

AMHERST COLLEGE, (AMHERST, MASS.) 

I think no fair and candid person could have viewed Prof. Brown's experiments, 
and have gone away without feeling that there is a world of power and mystery in 
the mental realm of which our psychologists have not given us the faintest glim- 
mer.— Pres. J. H. Seelye. 

YALE COLLEGE, (NEW HAVEN, CONN.) 

All of his experiments were successful, and the result served only to deepen the 
amount of the interest and curiosity centered on him. I will stake my reputation 
on the genuineness of the phenomena. — Prop. C. S. Lyman. 

As strange as this may seem to you, I think the principle is just 
as true as strange, and will bear the test of thorough investigation. 
A few others have done so, but I know of no one that has so 
thoroughly demonstrated it as Mr. Brown. 

The place to turn it to the best use, I think, is for detectives in 
ferreting out crime, and by this means finding articles as evidence, 
as I have seen an account of one man doing. But these men are 
not the make up of persons that would naturally incline to that 
business. In fact they are nearly the opposite, but might work 
together to carry out the purposes in mysterious cases. And the 
telegraphing test that I saw, where the wire was just touching each 
man's head some ten or twelve feet apart, proves we each have an 
atmosphere of our own similar to the electrical current used in 
telegraphy. 

Then to be happy be true; 
Be careful what you think, say and do. 

Never tell a falsehood just to be polite 
Or your "chickens may come home to roost" before night. 



260 ^PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Never invite any one to call 
Unless you wish t?hem to do so, 

Or your pride may have a fall 
And show your lack of truth and honor before they go. 

Never do as "Rome does" when it is not right. 
Or turn yourself loose "just for one night." 

Future days and years will show the blight, 
When you crave a character that will stand the light. 

METEOROLOGY. 

A brief mention of this important subject may induce you, dear 
reader, to investigate this subject, that so much affects us in so 
many ways, during our sojourn here, hence will give you bnt the 
essence of the latter day theory upon the subject. 

Meteorology is defined to be the science that takes cognizance of 
all atmospheric changes. The states of the atmosphere, as regards 
heat or cold, moisture or dryness, calm -or storm, clearness or 
cloudiness, thunder or lightning, and high or low barometer 
pressure, are what is commonly meant by the indefinite term, 
weather. Since meteorology takes cognizance of all atmospheric 
changes, therefore all these phenomena are within its domain. 

I will here give Prof. Tice's theory, as summarized by Dr. Hig- 
bie, it being brief and to the point. 

The Solar system is a group of electrified bodies, the sun being the center and 
fountain of electric energy, and holds all the nine primary and numerous secondary 
planets under the sway and unvarying control of his positive and negative electric- 
ity; and in accord with a known law, a charge received by one member of an elec- 
tric group simultaneously affects each member. 

There are four points in the orbit of a planet at which it receives the sun's elec- 
tric and magnetic charges, viz.: at 80 deg., 170 deg., 260 deg. and 350 degrees. 
Between the earth and sun are Venus, Mercury and Vulcan; the last being recently 
discovered and requiring about twenty-three days to make one revolution around 
the sun; Mercury, 88 days; Venus, 224 days; earth 365, and Mars next to us, 
but beyond 321 days Vulcan's rapid passage through these four critical points once 
in about six days, at which positive electric phenomena are manifest in the earth's 
atmosphere and causes oscillations of barometer and thermometer every three to 
five days. Mercury reaches one of these points every twenty-two days; Venus 
every fifty-six days; Earth every ninety-one days, and Mars every eighty days on 
an average; Jupiter being 1,400 times larger than the Earth, requires nearly 
twelve years to make one revolution, and whirls on his axis once in ten hours, 
and when he reaches one of these points he pours off upon us in such electric 
broadsides that the earth fairly thrills and dances in her orbit. Each primary 
planet at the four given points develops meterological conditions on our globe in 
proportion to size, orbital and axial velocity. It often occurs that two or more 
planets reach these critical points at or about the same time, and hence electric 
phenomena are intensified. These electric changes passing through and around the 



METEOROLOGY. 261 

earth develop low barometers and higher temperatures, followed invariably by 
high barometers and lower temperature?, with all the attendant phenomena of 
rain, snow, hail, cyclones, hurricanes, etc. Now, it is simply an astronomical 
question to determine the planetary position, and in accordance with electrical 
laws deduce their meteorological phenomena. This, Prof. Tice gives in a tabulated 
form for every day in the year in advance. 

Farmers and others can at once see the immense value of these forecasts. It 
enables them to foretell the coming storm days and weeks in advance, and prepare 
for them. Also, to calculate their severity according as the electric charge is a sin- 
gle or combined planetary influence. It may not strike their latitude but will be 
developed on the days designated, as the barometer will show. And forewarned is 
forearmed. 

I am emphatic in my belief of the accuracy of his forecasts, having subjected 
them to the closest scrutiny with the aid of an English Aneroid barometer and 
thermometer combined. Since June, 1875, having made daily observations, and 
do not hesitate to declare they have been remarkably verified ; not only on this 
continent, but on the eastern also. Please compare the dates of those deluging 
rains in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, in France, Spain, and England, and 
the terrific cyclone of India, in which 200,000 lives were lost; the great loss of 
lives and property in France, Spain and Austria, and in South America where ten 
cities and villages were mostly destroyed and many inhabitants; the terrific 
cyclone that destroyed Indianola, Texas, and ravaged Mississippi, Alabama, 
Georgia, South Carolina, and the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, do- 
ing immense damage to shipping and other property in Nova Scotia. Compare 
thoroughly these terrible disasters with the recorded forecasts of Prof. Tice, and 
say if you can, "It is merely shrewd guessing." As some may not understand the 
terms high and low barometer, 1 will say for the information of such, low barom- 
eter, or lowering, means comparatively warm; rising or high barometer compara- 
tively cold. The former generates clouds, winds, storms, water spouts, etc., and 
consists of an upheaving mass of atmosphere attended by a corresponding inflow 
from all sides, as a feeder of the moving storm-center, which in the majority of 
cases starts on or in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountain range and moves easterly 
unless deflected by high barometer in front, and requires from two to five days to 
reach the Atlantic Coast. 

What causes a break in the midst of steady cold weather? Who will tell us? 
Meteorological cycles — the passage of planets through the above named critical 
points, give us the only philosophical explanation. 

Positive electric charges produce heat and are promptly passed on to other 
planets, thence back to the sun in magnetic waves being devitalized electricity, in 
whose mighty laboratory it receives rejuvenation, again to flash out his exhaustless 
vital electric current, when a planet sweeps through his points of range on the 
Elliptic and fires his salute with another life giving benediction. 

This gives to meteorology a substantial physical basis founded upon cycles whose 
phenomena repeat themselves. On these laws science will build her ample halls 
and illumine them with electric light. 

Let any one calmly, dispassionately and intelligently scan the facts that consti- 
tute atmospheric phenomena, whether wind, clouds, rain, whirlwind, water-spout, 
tornado, hurricane, or cyclone, and he will soon perceive that electricity is written 
all over it in characters of living light. From facts whose character is so unmis- 
takably revealed as electric, the inevitable and conclusive inference must be that 
the cause of them is electricity." 



262 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

The great storm that killed some sixty persons and blew down 
and into ruins Iowa College buildings and a large part of the city 
of Grinnell, and damaged many other places, June IT, 1882, was- 
predicted by meteorolgists a year or more before on these princi- 
ples, but not designating just what part of the country would feel 
it, and that there would be an unusual amount of disturbing causes 
that year, which was verified. 

PRACTICAL EVOLUTION. 

It lias been reserved for a German lady, Fraulein Marie Von Chauvin, to 
accomplish one of the most remarkable feats in evolution on record — the chang- 
ing of an amphibious gilled double-breathing animal into one that is a lung- 
breathing and land-inhabiting. The subject was a Mexican gilled salamander or 
axoloti. As far back as 1867 Dumeril noted that, out of many hundreds of these 
creatures in the Sardindes Plantes in Paris, thirty lost their gills and assumed the 
form of the distinct amblystoma, a true land salamander, breathing air only by 
lungs. No cause could be assigned for this change, as all the axolotis were 
exposed to precisely similar conditions. Nor did the excision of the gills of one 
that had not changed throw any light on the mattter, because a new set of gill 
tufts soon grew out again. 

Fraulein Von Chauvin owes her repeated success to gradually accustoming the 
animal to life on land and exercising constant care as to its health and diet. Five 
strong axolotis were selected and were first kept in shallow water. Here they did 
not thrive, and the bolder measure of putting them directly on land was resorted 
to. Tepid baths twice a day kept up cutaneous respiration, and during the inter- 
vals between the baths wet moss was packed against the bodies. The mode of 
feeding was ingenuity itself. An earth worm was inserted in the axoloti's mouth 
as far as possible. Then the worm's tail was pinched until it wriggled so far down 
that the axoloti was obliged to finish the swallowing whether he liked it or not. 
Three of the animals persistently ejected their food, and, after fifty days' sojourn 
on land, died, or rather committed suicide, by starvation. The survivors, how- 
ever, even after a few days showed a marked decrease in size of gill tufts and tail 
fin; before long, when put in water, they struggled to get back to land. Further 
changes went on; the skin was cast repeatedly, the gills slowly disappeared, and 
the gill clefts closed. The eyes became larger, and the skin, from being black and 
shiny, turned brownish violet black with .yellow spots. Finally the complete 
amblystoma form was assumed and with the amblystoma nature, the animals 
developing an astonishing greediness. 

It is stated that the gills and tail fin seemed to shrivel by actual drying, through 
the action of the air, and that they were not absorbed by the vital processes of the 
animal itself. This is considered by Prof. Huxley to be a most interesting point, 
as it shows how the first air-breathing amphibia may have been evolved from 
double breathers by a succession of dry seasons, that is, by purely mechanical 
causes. — Scientific American. 

These are interesting facts and calculated' to make us think, and 
that will enlarge our hearts and souls, which are necessary to do 
good or comprehend God's natural, universal laws. 



WHERE DID THE INDIANS COME FROM. 2t>3 

While I know but little of the evidences of evolution, it does not 
strike me as an unreasonable theory; and, then, if our traditional 
theory of man's origin is placed on the doubtful side of the scales 
and it really seems to throw light into the balance for other evi- 
dence, I see no reason why we should not be free to search deeper. 
Cain slew Abel and then strikes out, as most murderers do. And 
it is hardly a likely story, as some try to make themselves believe, 
that he ran off with his sister — which we have no account of — u and 
Cain went out from the presence of the Lord," into the land of 
Nod, where he knew his wife and builded a city. So there were 
people to build a city there; if so, they must have been pre-Adam- 
ites. Some authors claim that Adam was a representative man of 
a race of people, as Abraham and Noah were; this is the first 
source of history. This would indicate that Cain married among 
the aborigines; similar to our Indians, possibly. 

WHERE DID THE INDIANS COME FROM? 

The latest intelligence from the Pacific coast reports that a Japanese junk had 
come ashore on one of the islands of Alaska, with three living" Japanese on board. 
The vessel had been disabled in a storm off Japan, and had drifted two thousand 
five hundred miles in nine months, twenty-three of the crew perishing from hunger 
and exposure. The striking occurrence is by no means unparalleled. Just forty 
yeais ago, a Japanese vessel with living men on board, came ashore near the 
mouth of the Columbia river in Oregon. It had a cargo of rice, and the crew con- 
sequently had enough to eat, though their only drink was water from occasional 
rains. Such occurrences assist greatly in explaining how America was peopled — a 
question very perplexing to our ancestors, though late geographical and ethnologi- 
cal researches show clearly that there is very little mystery about it. The Japa- 
nese are evidently of the same race with our Indians, their language being to some 
extent similar to those of our tribes; and it is not at all unlikely that, during the 
thousands of years to which Japan history goes back, many vessels have floated 
from their shores to ours, bearing living persons of both sexes. But even if it 
were impossible for them to cross the ocean, it is certain that Asiatics could easily 
make their way to America across Behring's Straits, or the Aleutian Islands, the 
distances between which would be an easy voyage for a canoe. Ten or twelve 
years ago the Appletons published an account of a voyage down the Amoor, by 
Perry McDonough Collins, the first American who ever descended that river. In 
his journal, he constantly spoke of the wild tribes on its banks as "Indians." We 
remember asking him at the time why he called them such, and he replied, 
"because they are Indians." He was familiar by long personal observation, with 
the tribes in Oregon and California, and declared he could see no material differ- 
ence between them and the tribes on the Amoor. He is a man of plain common 
sense, with a mind not obfusticated by ethnological or antiquarian studies; and 
the idea had apparently not entered his head that the Amoor tribes were not 
Indians. Their appearance, their garments, their mode of life, and the lodges in 
which they dwelt, he said, were all similar to those of the natives of Oregon. 
Their language, also, seemed to him very much the same, though, of course, he 



264: PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

had no critical knowledge of their dialects. Taking this resemblance for granted, 
therefore, and their beiog no great difficulty in crossing the ocean by way of the 
*Aleutian Islands, even in canoes, there is no longer any mystery about the peopling 
of America. Dr. L^ Plongeon, a learned gentleman, now in our city, also main- 
tains after long study of Peruvian antiquities, that civilization and population 
originated on this continent, and that the arts, customs, manners and religions of 
the Chinese, the Hindoos, the Assyrians and Egyptians are only developed imita- 
tions of Peruvian Originals ! It is well known that according to Agassiz and other 
eminent geologists, this continent was the first land that rose above the ocean that 
formerly covered the whole surface of the earth. 

If then, as Agassiz says, this country was the first to get ifes high 
lands above the waters, it would naturally be supposed to be first 
inhabited by some kind of a race of beings as supposed by Dr. Le 
Plongeon. The discoveries of the contents of the mounds in this 
country, indicate great length of time having elapsed, previous to 
any history or traditions. And the wonders of the cave builders 
take us farther back. I do not know whether we ever will reach 
any definite evidence or not. We must not be too credulous, or 
we will become drones. A few years ago all took it for granted 
that the earth was flat; now we have it a ball spinning through 
space. Then it was thought the earth was created some six thous- 
and years ago; now the learned make it millions of years in evolv- 
ing from a little ball just like we see everything growing, in a 
natural way, from a little seed. And they tell us we are only a 
small "mud ball" by the side of some of the planets. So we are 
in our babyhood, and we should take care of ourselves and grow 
up to motherhood and raise a family. But you know babies may 
die if you give them medicine and Mother Winslow. No, Shipton 
has given us a dose if we take it. She says: 

" The world to an end will come, 
In eighteen hundred and eighty-one." 

Yet ten years have passed and we still live. " There was noth- 
ing soothing about that for those that believed it. It ma}^ have acted 
as a purgative to those that swallowed it" Bat we think it will 
live and improve. And I don't fancy the idea of our first parents 
being better than we are, and that we are the last of a noble race. 
It don't speak well for the improvement on the talents given. I 
would prefer to reverse it and evolve the natural way from a lower 
race and be going on up toward God. 

ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY OF GREAT MEN AND WOMEN. 

As there are thousands of readers who would like to know some- 
thing of say one hundred of the leading thinkers or noted leaders 
of the world, we shall hope to gratify them in part. Circumstances 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. ^65 

have made many of them, while less noted men developed the in- 
spiring thoughts, and may hold a higher estimate in the great 
future. But many of them were developed by cultivating their 
own God given spark. We have many of them at present. Thous- 
ands of them, in their different avocations, that will shine in the 
future. James G. Blaine and Wra. E. Gladstone are now consid- 
ered the peers of the greatest statesmen that ever lived. Perhaps 
superior as they should be in the light of progress of our times. 
Besides we only store up the good, great things of dead men, while 
we natter and abuse them in life. They may fall, an easy thing to 
do by mistake or selfishness, so we write them up after death. I 
will speak of Mr. Corwin first, "Tom" Corwin for I knew him when 
he was a boy. First of a matter that may cause young people to do 
the important thing for their culture, that is think and study for 
themselves. I feel toward the masses about as "Tom" Corwin, of 
Lebanon, Ohio, once wrote to his only son, who he had been in- 
formed was injuring Lis health while at Denison University, by 
over mental exertion. The old statesman wrote him: 

" My son, I am informed that you are seriously injuring your 
health by study. Very few young men now-a-days are likely to 
be injured in this way, and all I have to say to you is, that should 
you kill yourself by study, it would give me great pleasure to at- 
tend your funeral." 

Thomas Corwin was born in Kentucky, July 29, 1794, his parents 
soon moved to Warren county, Ohio, where he was raised. His 
father fitted his brothers for professions, thinking them bright, but 
"Tom" must be the plow boy; but he would think and read history. 
In one of his playful scuffles after he became a young man, he 
fractured his knee cap, which made him a cripple for life. 

He first became noted as an orator in the political campaign of 
1840. I have heard him since. He was very dark skinned, and 
when he was a candidate for governor, he happened to be on the 
stage with his opponent's wife, who took him for a colored man, and 
used him for nurse, unconscious of who he was and when he went to 
get out offered him a "quarter," which he declined and went to the 
place where the candidates were to hold a joint discussion. When 
he got on the rostrum with the lady's husband, she first discovered 
her mistake and was te- "ibly mortified, but he could make it lively. 
It is said Judge K. of Illinois, who boasts of Indian blood in his 
veins, first saw Corwin at a hotel, where he had an appointment to 
deliver a speech. Corwin noticed young Mr. K. and turning from 
his friend, offered the young man his hat. Mr. K. wanted to know 



266 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

what for. ''Because you are a blacker man than I am," said 
Mr. Corwin. Upon learning that the young man was in straitened 
circumstances, Gov. Corwin invited him into his law office at Leba- 
non. The invitation being accepted the young man was helped 
through to the end of his studies. The Governor is said to have 
suffered intolerably in giving up for his three daughters to marry, 
though doing well. He could not bear the thought of their loving 
any man better than they did their father. A warm hearted father 
truly. His last office was United States minister to Mexico. He 
afterwards was doing a paying business at Washington in settling 
claims, "the result of the war with Mexico. While surrounded with 
many friends telling them one of his inimitable stories, he 
arose from his seat to illustrate a point in the anecdote, with both 
hands up, he was struck with paralaysis and fell forward into Presi- 
dent Garfield's arms and soon died. 

Marcus T. Cicero, the great orator whom we hear quoted occa- 
sionally, was born January 3, 106, B. C, on the border of Yolscian. 
He had no title or rank, but by the direction and help of Crassus, 
a great orator, he had the best advantages of learning of that 
period of time, and with a native talent made great proficiency 
in literature. He became an advocate before the tribunals of the 
day, but sought to be on the defense, to thus gain popularity; in 
fact, he was a follower of great men and ideas, more thau a leader. 
More disposed to imitate old things than to broach new ones, and 
by his very affable ways followed along up to some eminence in 
state affairs, as long as rulers could use him, but when jealousy fol- 
lowed he was banished for a time, but was again provided for. He 
wrote Koman history; his orations and personal history are 
valuable to scholars and thinkers. But when divisions came and he 
was on the weaker side, Antonious demanded the head, of Cicero, 
and while still in Italy Bravo Popilius cut his throat, then took off 
his hands and head and sent them to Rome, 43 B. C. 

Lycurgus, the great law maker of Sparta, was born about 900 
B. C. He established a senate as a mediator between king and 
people, destn^ed distinction between classes, made equal divisions 
of land among the people. All citizens required to have their food 
in common, all must fare alike. He forbade the use of gold and 
silver as money, and introduced iron and brass as substitutes. For 
seven hundred years it is claimed these laws were enforced and 
that crime was unknown in the land. The Spartans became 
famous for their bravery, wisdom and virtue. Lycuro-ns had them 
to take a solemn oath not to abolish or change these laws until he 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. 267 

should return, departed to Delphi, put himself to death, and 
caused his ashes to be thrown into the sea, that his people might 
never be freed from their obligations to maintain his enactments of 
the law. So you see he rode his hobby to a foolish death, and the 
people must have creduously worshiped him as a god to maintain 
his commands so long. 

Solon, the eminent legislator of Athens, was born at Salamis, 
B. C. 600. His early life was devoted to study and business pur- 
suits. After traveling through different portions of Greece and 
studying their customs, laws and politics, he returned to Athens and 
was chosen ruler. He profited by what he had observed in his travels, 
and set about reform. He created greater equality among the 
common people, obliged the payment of debts by those able to 
pay, and freed all others from their obligations. The bloody laws 
of Draco were abolished, the laws of marriage regulated upon 
equality of age, and it was made a disgrace for young men to 
remain single after a given age. During his rule he enforced 
industry of some kind upon all classes. To examine into each 
man's means of living, and to punish the idle. He died at Salamis 
and his ashes scattered about the isle. Such men are worthy of a 
place in history. 

Romulus, the founder of Rome, was born 768 B. C. ; he and his 
twin brother, Remus, it is said, were nursed by a she wolf. Grow- 
ing up and having inherited a fierce, warlike nature, they organized 
a band of soldiers and began building a city. A dispute arose 
concerning its fortification, whereupon Romulus killed his brother, 
and the site of Rome was then laid by him on April 21, 750 B. C. 
When the city was built he divided the younger portion of the 
inhabitants who had flocked to him, into batallions of soldiers, and 
the others he called the people. Next he organized a senate, com- 
posed of a hundred of the most prominent citizens. In the fourth 
year of Rome, seeing that the city suffered from lack of women, he 
invited the Sabines, a neighboring tribe, to attend a feast at the 
capital, during which he seized and forcibly retained between five 
and six hundred of the Sabine virgins. 

During his rule the population of Rome rapidly increased, but 
his success overcame his integrity, and after thirty-seven years' of 
governing suddenly disappeared, probably as his brother did. 

Socrates was born at Athens, 470 B. G. When a boy he worked 
with his father as a sculptor; afterward learned geometn^ and 
astronomy and read and studied the thoughts of all the great men 



268 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

of the time and had a critical knowledge of them; he also man- 
aged to get the benefit of all the great teachers of the period. He 
married and had three sons. Xantippe, his wife, is represented as 
a typical scold, and her husband used it as a means of cultivating 
his patience. Socrates, though very good and wise, was not con- 
sidered handsome, having a turned-up nose, projecting eyes, a 
bald heacT, thick lips and round belly, wearing miserable dress and 
going bare foot, yet he is still a wonder to the world as a great 
teacher and originator of thought and philosophy. Individual 
thoughtful conscience and personal decision date from the epoch of 
Socrates, and their growth from that time to this is the world's 
growth or progress. He taught the important thing is, "Know 
thyself," and was always trying to make men better and purer, turn- 
ing them from vice to virtue, but he differed from the religious 
teachings of his day and was condemned to death, by a small 
majority of five hundred judges who sat at his trial. Then, after 
a long conversation with his friends on the subject of the immor- 
tality of the soul, expecting a happy journey, drank the cup of 
hemlock with perfect composure, and died, in 399 B. 0. Are we 
improving ? 

Plato, a Greek philosopher, born in Athens, 429 B. C, his orig- 
inal name was Aristocles, but was changed to Plato (broad), 
whether from his shoulders, forehead or diction, is not stated, but 
probably from the latter. In his twentieth year he came under 
the influence of Socrates. He therefore devoted himself to philos- 
ophy, as that essence and soul of harmony of which rithmical num- 
bers are but the sensuous and shadowy embodiment. He seems 
to have never taken active part in state affairs, but philosophised 
all subjects, and taught them by lectures which were profoundly 
interesting:. He seems to have taken from our native conscious- 
ness of the right and wrong, the idea of pre-existence, and in this 
establishes the existence of the soul before coming into the body; 
he establishes its independence of the body, and by consequence 
its immortality. He reasons from the past to the future, and by 
showing that the soul is not dependent for its existence on the 
body, he shows it is not affected by the dissolution of the body. 
He argues that "true virtue always cures" with its own enjoyment, 
and the virtuous man, another name for the philosopher, finds 
his highest happiness in communion with and assimulating to the 
good and the divine. He died in 348 B. C. — rather old. 

Hannibal, the brilliant Carthaginian leader, born 247 B. C. At 
the age of nine years his father, Hamilcas, who was then engaged 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. 269 

in the first Punic war, made him swear eternal enmity to Rome. 
Upon his father's death he concentrated the Carthaginian armies, 
subdued all the nations of Spain, made his famous march across 
the Alps and boldly advanced into Italy. By artful stratagems 
and vigorous fighting he routed all the armies of the hitherto 
invincible Romans, and at one terrible battle at Cannae he killed 
fifty thousand of the enemies' soldiers and utterly destroyed their 
army. As a trophy of this victory he sent to Carthage several 
bushels of gold rings taken from the dead Romans. But fame 
gained by war is seldom lasting, and he was finally defeated and 
forced to fly from the country. And at the age of sixty-four, with- 
out a single friend, he took poison and died. , 

Alexander the Great was born July 6, 354 B. C. While still 
a mere boy he complained that his father, the warlike Philip, 
should keep on conquering cities and overpowering nations, saying 
there would be nothing of consequence left for him to do. His 
first act of courage was training the famous horse Bucephalus, 
whose ungovernable fury all the countries of Philip were unable to 
subdue. At sixteen he was left as regent of Macedonia, and the tribe 
of Madari, despising his youth, rebelled against him. Promptly 
collecting his army, he attacked and subdued them, took their city 
and changed its name to Alexandrapolis. During his youth he 
was temperate in all things, disdaining to yield to bodily pleasures; 
and while conquering the surrounding nations, he treated them 
with more humanity than was customary at that rime. But as he 
grew older, becoming elated with success, his character changed 
and he developed the extremes of passion and vice; some say he 
died in a fit of debauchery, 321 B. C, at the age of 33. 

Demosthenes was born in 384 B. C. It is said he had a bitter 
foretaste as a boy, on account of his maternal grandfather's having 
recognized a different authority. He had an impediment of speech, 
yet he took active part in the law courts, and it is said he used peb- 
bles in his mouth and many other means to get his voice modified 
so as to make a public speaker, and in time made one of the most 
eloquent orators of his day. The political career of Demosthenes 
from his first direct contact with public affairs in 355 B. C. to his 
death, 322 B. C. has an essential unity. It is the assertion in suc- 
cessive forms adapted to successive moments, of unchanging prin- 
ciples. He always claimed that Athens was the natural head of 
Greece, and amid all the wars of the surrounding nations, his voice 
was heard against them, and his predictions came true so uniformly 
that he came to be looked up to as an honorable statesman, that 



270 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

caused them to avoid war more. To one he said, "Domestic 
administration must be purified, statesmen must be made to fee] 
that they are responsible to the state." 

The finer tones of averted war, 

When all the winds were laid 
And every night come out, and jutting peak, 
And valley, and the immeasurable heavens 
Break open to their highest. 

Archimedes, who was probably the greatest mathematician that 
ever lived when we consider how little he had to work upon, save 
his own individual ingenuity, was born 284 B. C. He made a con- 
tinuaLstudy of all branches of physical science. When the Eomans 
besieged his native city, Syracuse, he constructed machines of such 
power and wonderful mechanism, that he could sieze the enemy's 
ships, lift them in the air and hurl them into the water with force 
enough to dash them to pieces. 

Unlike the great conquering heroes of that time, he spent his 
life in conquering the forces of nature, and studying the laws of the 
universe for the benefit of mankind. He was killed while solving 
a problem in mathematics, during the sacking of Syracuse, 212 B. 
C. Among his many inventions were the celebrated burning 
glasses capable of effect at three hundred yards. Well done for 
the times. Such men are more worthy of honor than the slayers of 
men. 

Julius CLesar was born July 10, 100 B. C. His character 
was warlike. When quite young he engaged in the wars in Spain. 
In the yeai 57 B. C. he was appointed Consul of Rome. One of 
the many laws he enacted required that in the case of unpaid debts 
two-thirds of the debtor's income should go to the creditor, and 
only the balance be retained by himself till the debt was paid. He 
was not noted as a successful law maker, and his chief glory was 
in the sword. In less than ten years he tsok, it is said, eight hun- 
dred cities by assault, conquered three hundred nations and fought 
regular battles with over three millions of men, two-thirds of whom 
were either killed or made prisoners. Very little can be said of 
him save as a great military chieftain, whose very successes proved 
his ruin, for the greater part of the Roman senators believing he 
was endeavoring to overthrow the republic and proclaim himself 
king, conspired against him and assassinated him as he entered the 
senate chamber, 43 B. C. u He who takes the sword shall perish 
by the sword." 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. 271 

St. Patrick was born in the year 386 at Boulogne, in Britain. 
When in his sixteenth year he was taken prisoner by an Irish mon- 
arch and sold into slavery. Six years of his youth were passed in 
tending sheep for his master. He made his escape at length and 
reaching the coast was taken on board a vessel and landed in 
France. There he entered a monastery where he passed four years 
in study. At the age of thirty-five he again landed in Ireland, and 
on the way to his early home was once more captured by robbers, 
but his holy countenance so affected the chief that he gave him his 
liberty and became the first convert to his religion in Ireland. He 
held the first service of mass in a barn, and many were converted. 
The rest of his life was spent in traveling from place to place, giv- 
ing religious instruction and raising Ireland from the superstitious 
ignorance of idol worship to the elevation of Christianity. He 
died after a long and useful life March IT, 465, respected and loved 
by all his people and highly esteemed by the world. 

Mahomet, the founder of a religion which to-day holds in ignor- 
ance a large portion of the eastern world, was born at Mecca, in 
the year 570. He was an unlettered man, but in attending sermons 
from Mecca to Damascas, he noticed a great number of religious 
sects, and pretending to have been taken up to heaven on the back 
of an ass, he, with the aid of a learned Jew and two Christians — so 
said- -framed the Koran — the Moslam bible — which, he said, was 
given him by the angel Gabriel. Thus he imposed upon the peo- 
ple, and forming large armies of his proselytes, who fought with 
the desperation of fanatical ignorance. He compelled many of 
the surrounding nations to embrace his creed. He died at the age 
of sixty-three. There is enough of good things in his bible to sea- 
son the false and superistitious for a credulous, ignorant people, so 
that Mohammedanism is flourishing. There were many converts 
made at the point of the bayonet in many religions by warriors in 
those days. 

Alferd the Great was born in England in 849. At the age of 
twenty-two he succeeded to the monarchy, and immediately found 
himself at war with the Danes, in which he was beaten and forced 
to fly from the throne. After some years of exile, he collected his 
forces, fought fifty- six battles with the enemy and routed them by 
land and sea. He then secured an honorable peace and applied 
himself to the improvement of the country. He established the 
jury trial, divided the goverement in to shires, and formed a coun- 
cil of municipal officers for the considering of affairs of state. Dur- 
ing his government his laws were so just and impartial that crime 



272 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

was hardly known. He invited learned scholars from all countries, 
encouraged education, started the great naval power of England, 
and one account says he started the Oxford university. He died at 
the age of fifty-two. The loss was keenly felt. Such a course of 
improvement is what should make men great. 

William Tell, the hero of Switzerland, was born in 1275. His 
famous exploit of shooting the apple from the head of his son, is 
well known — yet doubted by some. After this event he turned his 
whole attention to the overthrow of the tyrant Gessler, at whose 
command it was done, and by hi3 great bravery created such a gen- 
eral uprising of the Swiss mountaineers, that his country was 
finally freed from Austria. Believed to have been drowned in the 
great inundation of 1350. He was loved by the Swiss. 

Ameeico Vespucious tried to take the honors of the discovery 
of this continent from Columbus. He was born in France 1451, 
a great merchant, who heard of Columbus' discovery when in Spain. 
In 1499, he with his fleet crossed the Atlantic and struck at the 
Gulf of Mexico, then claimed to have crossed the year before and 
made the discovery. He published the first book describing this 
country, and many charts of the sea, did good, but failed to get 
Columbus' honor. 

Joan of Arc, whose real name was Jane of Arc, was born of 
very poor parents at Domremi, in Lorraine. She was in youth a 
servant at a wayside inn, and was required to perform the most 
menial work. She never received education, but was religious to 
the extreme and highly imaginative. At this time the enemies of 
France had pressed so hard upon Charles YII that when she 
appeared before him and said she had a commission from Heaven 
to deliver him from his enemies, he almost, in the extremity of 
despair, placed her at the head of his armies. The French soldiers, 
elated with the belief of having an inspired leader at their head, 
with great vigor assaulted the late conquerors, and after a number 
of desperate engagements, drove them from the field, and France 
was free. Joan was taken prisoner afterwards, however, by the 
English, and so great was their rage, that, trumping up a charge of 
sorcery against her, she was condemned and executed at the stake 
in 1531 at the age of twenty-nine. 

Wm. Penn, one of the foremost among the Quakers, was of Eng- 
glish birth. He was born in 1644. At the age of eleven he 
fancied the Lord had visited him and left with him divine inspira- 
tion. He soon after found himself under the influence of the 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. 273 

Quakers, and came out publicly as one of the sect. In 16G8 he be- 
came a preacher and his zeal brought him quickly into notice by 
the regular clergy. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London 
and afterwards at Newcastle. Finally, in 1681. the king gave him 
a province in America and Penn at once formed a colony and left 
England for his new possessions, which he named Pennsylvania. 
His colony flourished but he did not stay with it altogether. On re- 
turning to England he was charged with being a Papist and was so 
persecuted and involved that at one time he mortgaged his whole 
province in Pennsylvania for six thousand pounds sterling. He 
died in 1718. To him the Quakers are indebted for their early in- 
troduction into America. 

Copernicus, the great astronomer, was born in Prussia, in 1472. 
At twenty-three a professor of mathematics at Rome. Afterward 
examined into the earth's form and its relation to other heavenly 
bodies. This resulted in the discovery of the earth's revolutions 
around the sun and its rotundity. He wrote a book in support of 
his theory, but owing to the bigotry and ignorance of the church, 
which condemned everything opposed to established beliefs as 
heretical, he kept it concealed some years, until his friends urged 
its publication upon him. He died a few hours after the first copy 
was brought to him, but in his death he gave to the world the true 
plan of the universe. 

John Knox, a reformer of Scotland, was born in 1505. Was 
educated and ordained a priest, but soon tired of the theology 
then taught. He studied to find the plain, practical truths, and 
preached against the authority of the Pope, but soon had to conceal 
himself in the castle of St. Andrews, for a time, but still preached 
his doctrine. In 1547, he was captured and imprisoned by the 
French for two years. He afterward became chaplain to Edward 
VI. He was a bold preacher. He died in 1572. 

Christopher Columbus was born at Genoa, on the Mediterranean. 
He became a sailor, and on learning that the earth was round he 
set his great mathematical mind to work and concluded there must 
be land on both sides of the world in equal quantities to "balance 
all." He endeavored to raise a fleet, but on application at Genoa 
they called him visionary. He then applied to the court of Portu- 
gal. The king had so little honor that he took advantage of the 
secret, and sent out a secret expedition, which was a failure as it 
should have been. After many disappointments, Queen Isabella, 
of Spain, fitted out a fleet. He sailed from Palos on the 3d of 

18 



274 PROGRESS OF LIFE aND THOUGHT. 

August, 1492. Now his anxiety began. Days, weeks, merged 
into months, still nothing but the dreary ocean. His sailors were 
in constant fear and mutiny, and his life in constant danger. 
Undaunted he kept on his course, when as it were, his last moments, 
October 12, an island was discovered that he called San Salvador, 
and the point of our new world was established. On returning 
home he was made Admiral of the sea, and vice-regent, of his dis- 
covery. He made two other voyages arid it is thought, touched 
Florida. He died in 1506. His disposition was said to have been 
kind and exemplary. October 12, 1892, the world is now celebrat- 
ing his four hundredth anniversary at Chicago at the great Colum- 
bian Exposition. 

Martin Luthek was born in Lower Saxony, in 1483. He was a 
brave reformer. He had a hard time, as many boys do; went to 
school six years, and at twenty delivered lectures on physics; was 
being fitted for a lawyer, but while walking one day he was placed 
in such peril of his life by a terrific thunder storm that his views of 
life were changed. He entered a monastery. At the age of twenty 
four he was ordained a priest and soon after a professor of philo- 
sophy, at Wurtemburg. On his way to Rome, two years later, he 
saw such corruption in the church that, on his return, he began 
preaching against the sale of "indulgences " and other church 
abuses; in place of correcting the evils, the Pope upheld them and 
excommunicated Luther. He preached the more earnestly and was 
supported by the better classes, so that he had a safe escort when 
taken to the Diet at Worms, where he defended his position 
bravely. Then was secreted for a time by his friends; wrote a 
book. The prince, in his favor, protested against the rigorous 
impositions of the Diets, or assemblies, and thus arose the name of 
"Protestants." He had the grit for a reformer for those times. 
His history does not make him of the highest order of men; but he 
was the man for the occasion. 

Queen Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Till, and Anne Boleyn, 
was born in 1533. She was crowned Queen of England at the age 
of twenty-five. Commenced showing great despotism, as did her 
father, but manifested wisdom in State affairs. Soon paid off the 
court debts and improved the coin of the government. Improved 
the army and navy, and other branches of the government. 
Strange to say, she never married, though she was very vain of 
her personal charms, jealous at any indifference of her male attend- 
ants. During her rule she allowed great persecution of the 
Catholics. Some thought this injured the reformation. England 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY..' 275 

owes much of her prosperity to the reforms made during her reign, 
yet history will never forgive her for her many cruelties, and 
especially the wicked act of beheading her cousin and rival, Mary 
Queen of Scotts. Elizabeth died in 1603. So responsibility with 
care, and a consciousness of wrong done, does not always kill 
immediately. 

Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland, was born in 1542. At sixteen 
she married the dauphin of France. After his death, two years 
later, she went from France, where she had lived from her infancy, 
to Scotland, and took possession of the Scottish crown. She mar- 
ried her cousin, Lord Darnley, who in his insane desire to rule and 
by his overbearing disposition brought continued trouble to Mary, 
and finally plunged the court into such a state of affairs that the 
nobles conspired and assassinated him two years after his mar- 
riage. Three months later Mary was married to James Hepburn, 
Earl of Bothnell. Scotland now became a field of civil war, which 
resulted in the flight of the queen to England for protection at the 
hand of Elizhabeth, but the latter looked upon her with jealousy 
and fear, as she was considered by the Catholics to be rightful heir 
to the English throne, and her cousin imprisoned her; false accusa- 
tions were made, charging her with conspiracy to overthrow Eliza- 
beth; she was wickedly sentenced and beheaded by the queen. 
Mary was highly educated and possessed great beauty. She died 
calmly. 

Galltleo was born in 1564. In his youth he constructed several 
pieces of music and displayed talent in that direction. He was ed- 
ucated for the medical profession and was the inventor of the 
method of calculating the rate of the pulse by the abbreviations of 
the pendulum. After this he besfan a course of mathematical 
studies and attained such distinction, that at twenty-five he was ap- 
pointed lecturer on mathematics in the university at Piza. He soon 
became so popular as a lecturer that no building would hold his 
audiences and was often forced to adjourn to the open field for room. 
In 1609 he made the discovery of the telescope, which doubled his 
fame, and eventually led to his accepting and teaching of the 
Capernician system of the universe. This brought him into collis- 
ion with the church, which ignorantly discarded science, and he 
was brought before the Inquisition and forced to deny his theory 
that the earth revolved around the sun. He did this with instru- 
ments of torture around him, but as his last words of reconcilia- 
tion passed his lips, he stamped his foot and said, ' ''It does move 



2T6 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

nevertheless" His health failed, he became blind and died in 1642. 
The ivorld moves. 

William Shakespeare, born in England in 1564. He was mar- 
ried at seventeen, became dissipated, got in trouble, ran away from 
home, joined a company of play actors at London, but did not 
make it a success. But he soon began writing the great poetical 
and historical plays which have become so famous that at this late 
date his writings have a greater circulation than those of any other 
writers. It is said that he never erased any lines written, his 
thoughts and words were so harmonious. After his youthful follies 
it is said his life was without blemish. He died peacefully at the 
age of fifty- two. 

"To live in harmony with your better thoughts." 

John Bunyan was born in 1628 in England. He was a tinker 
by trade; was married at nineteen, his wife's only dower a few 
religious books. He began to read them, became interested, and 
began a course of study and afterwards commenced preaching. 
As his preaching did not harmonize with the established church he 
was persecuted and thrown into jail. While there he wrote his 
peculiar idealism in his famous " Pilgrim's Progress." He was 
afterward liberated and went from place to place, preaching wher- 
ever he could get an audience. He died at the age of sixty. 

Emanual Swedenborg, a Swedish philosopher and able religious 
writer, was born in Stockholm January 29, 1688. He was the son 
of Jasper Swedeberg, bishop of Skara, West Gottland, who had 
the charge of the Swedish churches in England and its American 
societies. The family was enobled in 1719 by the queen, thence- 
forth he assumed the name of Swedenborg. He was a remarkable 
writer on such a vast field of subjects in the arts, science and phil- 
osophy, and was looked upon as wonderful in thought. A remark- 
ably sincere, faithful, religious man, when fifty-seven years old and 
at his prime, he said u he was called to a new and holy office by the 
Lord himself, who manifested himself to him in person, and opened 
his sight to a view of the spirit world, and granted him the privi- 
leges of spirits and angels." And then he wrote another large 
series of books principally on the scriptures. The New Jerusalem 
church was founded on his teachings. And though societies are 
not very numerous, yet many learned men hold to his views, and 
his writings are held in high esteem. He died in London, March 
29, 1772. 

Sir Isaac Newton was born at Lincolnshire, England, in 1612. 
He was a boy of steady habits, and received a thorough education 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. 277 

in the then sciences. At the age of twenty-two he commenced 
studying the phenomena of colors as demonstrated by a prism, 
and finally developed a new and correct theory of light and colors. 
Soon after this he discovered the law of gravitation, the most 
important event of his life. He was a great philosopher, and 
developed many things that are benefiting the world. He achieved 
high honors and died at the age of eighty-five. 

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, January 17, 1706. He 
had only a common school education, and worked at printing, with 
his brother, at New York, afterward at Philadelphia, where he 
began with one dollar, but by perseverance and industry estab- 
lished a printing business of his own. He kept up a course of 
study in the languages, and wrote "Poor Richard's Almanac," 
which went over all the world. His business increased, and he did 
many noble and generous acts. He tried to prevent the revolu- 
tionary war, but finding it inevitable, assisted in drafting the 
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United 
States. He made discoveries in philosophy, and died at eighty- 
four years of age. 

Robert Bruce was born in 1275. He had a long war to hold 
the crown of Scotland, King Edward I Bruce claiming it. Robert 
was driven out in the mountains, and excommunicated by the Pope, 
he being friendly to Edward. Robert's queen went with him in 
nearly all his wanderings, his little bands often defeated and often 
compelled to seek safety separately. Bruce was hunted with 
blood hounds and he only escaped by wading a long distance 
through the waters of a small river. Then nearly exhausted, worn 
out and sick, one day lying in a shepherd's hut, thinking of sur- 
rendering his claim to the throne, he noticed a spider attempting to 
carry its thread from one beam to another, each time it failed, but 
renewed the attempt till the seventh time it succeeded and fastened 
it. Superstitiously considering this an omen, it gave him new 
energy. He arose, collected his bands that were faithful to him, 
and succeeded in a number of small engagements; his friends 
flocked to him, and Edward died while on the way with an immense 
army against him. After, this Robert gradually got possession, 
and reigned many years. Made a peace so that England relin- 
quished the crown of Scotland, and died June 7, 1339. 

Peter the Great was born in 1672 and succeeded to the Rus- 
sian monarchy on the death of his eldest brother. To become a 
favorite with his people he enlisted as a private soldier and grad- 
ally rose to distinction in that body by his own merit and courage. 



278 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Then seeing the superiority of the English and German navies, he- 
went in disguise to Amsterdam and labored as a ship carpenter in 
order to fully learn the trade, teach his own laborers to become 
proficient at it, and thereby produce a navy of his own inferior to 
none. Though often defeated in his battles, his energy and per- 
sistence eventually gained the day and he added much territory to 
his original possessions. His victories were always wisely em- 
ployed to establish a permanent peace. He labored earnestly to 
educate and enlighten his countrymen, and built schools and col- 
leges in all of his principal cities. During his reign the laws were 
much improved, strict justice rendered, the arts and sciences en- 
couraged, and the welfare of his people carefully considered. He 
died in 1725, loved by all. 

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was bora at Lincoln- 
shire, England, June 17, 1703. He was the son of Rev. Samuel 
and Susannah Wesley, and was one of nineteen children. Their 
early teaching was by their truly "incomparable mother," who 
should share largely the credit of the advance her sons made, and 
no doubt felt then, as some have said of late, "Time to start a new 
church, brethren." John was highly educated, and he and his 
brother Charley, and others, were so devout and Methodical in 
their worship that they were called "Methodist" in 1729. May 
1, 1738, he founded the first Methodist society in Fetter Lane, 
London. As he had moved on a little the established church 
would not alow him the privileges of their churches, hence he 
preached in the pure air. The foundation stone of the first chapel 
was laid in Bristol May 12, 1739. In 1742 Wesley instituted class 
meetings at Bristol for the purpose of paying off a debt, but were 
continued for the good they did. He held the first conference at 
the old foundry church in London, June 25, 1744, ten of them 
being present. The next conference there were three present, but 
they grew since that. His marriage was an unhappy one. He 
was a small, slim man with a good head. He thought he would 
die of consumption in 1753, but lived till March 2, 1791. 

Fredrick the* Gjreat was born in Prussia in 1712 and was 
crowned king at the age of twenty-eight. His first act was to claim 
the territory of Siliceu, to which he had no right. After two wars 
during the space of two years, he attached that province to Prussia- 
He next engaged in the great Seven Years' war with Austria; after 
being nearly overthrown he finally triumph'ed. Peace was restored 
favorable to his kingdom, but this did not last long, for Fredrick, 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. 279 

ever intent on increasing his dominions, joined the Austrians and 
Russians in the robbery of Poland. Five years later he embroiled 
himself in another war with Austria, which lasted two years and 
few results were obtained. During his declining years he en- 
deavored to instruct his people in the arts of peace and attempted 
some improvement in the government. But with so much bad ex- 
ample there cannot be much said in his favor or expected from his 
teachings. Why should such men be called great? He died at the 
age of seventy-five. 

George Whttefield, founder of the Calvinist Methodists, was 
born in England, in 1714. He joined the Wesleyans at Oxford 
College, and soon became the most popular preacher of the times. 
He came to America in 1738, and labored one year in Georgia. 
Returning then to London his preaching attracted such immense 
crowds that he was obliged to resort to out-door worship, as none 
of the churches would contain his audiences. No man was ever 
more successful in gaining converts to a new profession of faith. 
He made seven vo} 7 ages between England and America, dividing 
his religious labors between the two countries. His unremitted 
zeal and exposures brought on disease, which caused his death at 
the age of sixty-four. 

Edmund Burke, the celebrated Irish lawyer, was born in Dublin, 
Ireland, in 1730. He graduated at Trinity College at eighteen 
years of age, and was soon after admitted to the bar. He was 
particularly devoted to literature, and during his life wrote many 
excellent works, in addition to his legal labors. The war against 
the United States in 1776 met with his greatest opposition. He 
labored for Catholic emancipation and Irish freedom. His con- 
versational powers were truly wonderful, and his eloquence as a 
speaker, not excelled; such impressions upon the minds of jurors 
as he was able to produce are rarely equaled by lawyers. During 
a speech before the House on the impeachment trial of Warren 
Hastings, he affected his hearers to su^h an extent that several 
ladies fainted and had to be carried out, and the learned and 
eloquent defendant himself afterward stated that his own impres- 
sions at the time were that he was the very worst and blackest of 
his race. His death occurred in 1797. 

JSToah Webster, author of the dictionary, was born at Hartford, 
Connecticut, on October 16, 1758. After four years hard study in 
Yale college he graduated in 1778. Then he studied law and taught 
school two years. He was then admitted to the bar but did not 
shine and returned to teaching. He then procceeded to issue the 



280 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

first spelling book for this country, the income of which supported 
his family while he was at the great work of his life, the American 
dictionary. He finished and published it in 1828 and also pub- 
lished other works, edited a magazine and two newspapers. 

Oliver Goldsmith was born atTallos, Ireland, October 10, 1731. 
He attended Dublin college and Edinburgh university. After 
which, being poor and wishing to travel, he took a tour through 
France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy on foot. He returned to 
London and engaged in literature, his first work being "The Trav- 
eler," which gained great celebrity. The year following he repre- 
sented his own family in "The Yicar of Wakefield." He wrote 
"The Good Natured Man," "Deserted Village" and other works, 
and died in 1774. 

General Lafayette was born in France in 1757. He received a 
commission in the king's regiment, and was married at sixteen, his 
wife two years younger. In 1777 he was so affected by the strug- 
gle in America, that he came over to assist in the great cause with- 
out pay or price. Throughout the war he distinguised himself for 
great bravery and hard work, and returning to France twice dur- 
ing the period finally succeeded in obtaining help in both French 
soldiers and money. He was the firm friend of Washington and 
was equally loved by him in return. After this he passed through 
the great French revolution, lending his voice and labors to the 
cause of freedom, and was appointed General of the National 
Guards of Paris. He always favored a republican form of govern- 
ment in all countries and assisted them where he was able. His 
death occurred in 1834 at the age of seventy-seven. 

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica in the 
year 1769. His early studies were mathematics and history. At 
the age of twenty- seven he married Josephine, and was given com- 
mand of the French army, in Italy. He promptly defeated the 
king of Tiedmont, and swept down upon the Austrians, routing 
them in every battle, and in less than one year had taken every 
fortified place in Italy. Pope Pius the YII, sued for peace. Dur- 
ing the next six years he vanquished Austria, Yenitians and Britons. 
The crowns of Naples, Holland and Westphalia were given to his 
three brothers, Lewis, Joseph and Jerome. After other wars, in 
1804 he was crowned, by the Pope, monarch of France; but before 
this, his great expedition to Egypt was probably the best thing he 
did; and it seems he made a success of eveiything he undertook 
from the first and on down to 1810. At this time his marriage with 
Josephine was dissolved, and he united with Maria Louisa. Soon 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. 281 

after he made war on Russia, and with five hundred thousand men, 
grandly equipped, he went into Russia as far as Moscow, the Rus- 
sians falling back; but Napoleon returned with only a remnant of 
his great army. Now, all Europe was against him, and finally 
defeated at Waterloo, and himself banished to St. Helena, where 
he died at the age of fifty-two years. 

The Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, was born in Ire- 
land, 1769, was educated in England and France, and was appointed 
in the army and rose gradually. In 1790 he was sent to parliament 
from Ireland. Four years later he was in active service in the re- 
treat of the Duke of York's army. From 1796 for nine years he 
was engaged in fighting and subduing various tribes in the West 
Indies. On his return he was with the British forces against Bon- 
aparte. He again took his seat in the House and was active in 
politics; in 1807 was in the war against Denmark; the next year 
was sent with an army to Spain to begin operations once more 
against the French. His opening engagements were successful, 
but officers of higher rank came on and lost all. Two years later 
lie was put in command and defeated the French army at Talavera. 
J hit the French concentrated on him and he withdrew to Portugal. 
After a winter's preparation Wellington fell back and drew the 
French and defeated them at Salamanca. He then became com- 
mander of the Spanish army, also In 1813 he beat Napoleon at 
Toulouse, and again at Waterloo, June 18, 1815, where he anni- 
hilated the French army and ruined Napoleon. Wellington died 
at the age of eighty-three. 

Robert Fulton was born in Pennsylvania, 1765. He received 
very little education only as he picked it up himself. He 
developed, first, his faculty for painting. Even while a boy he 
painted landscapes and portraits, the proceeds of which he used in 
buying a farm for his mother. Franklin, observing his talent, 
advised him to place himself for tuition under the care of Benjamin 
West, where he became proficient in the art, and entered a studio 
on his own account. His inventive genius was uppermost and he 
soon gave up painting and applied himself to the study of steam 
navigation. His first boat to run by steam was built on the river 
Seine in France, in the year 1803. This being a success he returned 
to America and, in 1807, built "Clermont," which was used on 
the Hudson river, the first steamboat in the United States. He 
afterward built two steam ferry boats; also a sub-marine battery, 
and supervised the construction of a large steam frigate for the 



282 ; PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

government. He invented a machine for making rope, one for 
spinning flax, and set the minds of men to work so generally that 
he ushered in the age of inventions. He died at the age of 
fifty-one. 

Daniel O'Connell was born in Ireland, 1775. He was educated 
at the College of St. Omer in France and at the Irish school of 
Douay. He first intended to enter the service of the church, but 
finally decided to study law, and was admitted to the bar at the age 
of twenty-three. He was of an impetuous disposition and applied 
himself diligently to the cause of Irish freedom. In 1815 his excit- 
able nature involved him in a duel with an alderman which resulted 
in the death of his adversary. Eight years after this event he 
formed a catholic society that spread over all of Ireland, and in 
1828 he fought such a vigorous battle with his political opponents, 
that he obtained a seat in parliament, which he retained for eigh- 
teen y ears. In 1841 he was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin, and 
immediately after headed a party which demanded a repeal of the 
union with great Brittain. They were soon subdued, and O'Con- 
nell's reputation as a politician was ruined. He never could accom- 
plish but little after this and died at the age of seventy-two. 

Daniel Webster was born in New Hampshire in 1782. He 
graduated at Dartmouth College at the age of nineteen, and four 
years later was admitted to the bar. In 1812 war was declared 
against Great Britain, and Webster was elected a member of Con- 
gress from New Hampshire. He at once soared to the front rank, 
both his political and professional reputations becoming prominent 
alike, and was soon acknowledged to be one of the foremost men 
of the times. In 1820 he delivered his fine oration at the centen- 
nial celebration of the landing at Plymouth Rock, and five years 
later, his grand address at Bunker Hill gained him the applause of 
the whole nation. In 1827 he was elected to the Senate of the 
United States, and in ability was the leader of that body. He 
remained in the Senate twelve years and maintained the repu- 
tation of a great statesman. He was Secretary of State under 
President Harrison, and by his diplomacy disputes with Great 
Britain of fifty years' standing were amicably settled. His severe 
labors told on him, and he died in 1852. His last words were: U I 
still live." 

George Washington was born in Virginia on the 22d day of 
February, 1732. At the age of fifteen he wished to go into the 
British navy, but in deference to his mother's wishes gave it up. 
At nineteen he was appointed an adjutant general of militia. He 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. 283 

was married at the age of twenty-six, and until 177-t passed the 
time in cultivating his farm at Mount Yernon. During this year 
he was sent as a delegate to the continental congress, and the year 
following was chosen commander in chief of the continental army. 
He fought the great battle of "Long Island," "White Plains," 
"Trenton," "Princeton," "Brandywine," "Germantown," and 
"Monmouth." His famous crossing of the Delaware took place 
December 25, 1786, and his final closing of the war by the capture 
of the army of Lord Cornwallis, was on October 19, 1781. For all 
his service during the revolution he never would receive a single 
dollar from the government. In 1789 he was elected the first presi- 
dent of the United States. Against his wishes he was pressed in 
for a second term, at the expiration of the second term he went to 
his farm and two years later he died, December 14, 1799. 

THEODORE PARKER. 

"A statue of Theodore Parker, to cost $12,000, will be erected on one of the 
squares in the south end of Boston." 

This statue, if erected, will be the first honor of the kind ever bestowed upon an 
American clergyman, so far as we are aware. And it will be an honor worthily 
bestowed. Parker was twenty-five years in advance of his age, and paid the pen- 
alty in as much persecution as the age would permit. Had he been born in the 
eighteenth century instead of the nineteenth, he would have lost his liberty, and 
in the seventeenth his life; but he would have lost both with just as much cheer- 
fulness as he did less valuable things at a later day. He had the "courage of his 
convictions;" and the true martyr stuff was in him, and carried him through trials 
that would have crushed men of the common stuff. Nowadays the path of the 
clerical heretic is spread with roses and laurel; then it was sown with thorns. It 
cost something then for a clergyman to step outside the circle of beliefs in which he 
was reared, and persuade others to do likewise. It costs nothing now beyond the 
mental struggle and temporary personal inconvenience, usually compensated by 
extended reputation and increased salary. Heresy of such pronounced type as 
Parker's was rare, very rare, then, but it has long since ceased to be so, and its 
influence has decreased accordingly. Pigmies now walk unmolested the road that 
giants trod, sword in hand. "The climate of opinion," as Joseph Glanvil called it, 
has changed wonderfully, and no man in America, certainly has contributed to the 
change more than this son of New England. Few persons, we think, will now 
question the value of his work, however widely they may differ from many of his 
conclusions. He liberalized thought by giving perfect freedom to his own thought. 
Breathing clear air himself, he knew how to clear the air for others. He has made 
religion possible to thousands and tens of thousands, who would otherwise have 
wandered away into the dreary wastes of atheism. Loving God and humanity 
with an all absorbing love, he communicated that love to thousands and tens ot 
thousands ot hearts which would otherwise have been strangers to it. A fearless 
iconoclast, he placed the divine image where the idol had stood, and taught a 
nobler worship than that which he destroyed. And it can be said of him what can- 
not be said of most reformers, either before or since his time, that he had no words 



284 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

of reproach or rebuke for those who went further than he was willing to go. He 
did not break old chains to forge new ones. He says: 

"The religious teachings of Jesus have this chief excellence — they allow men to 
advance indefinitely beyond Hirn. He does not foreclose human consciousness 
against the income of new truth, nor make any one fact of human history a bar 
to the development of human nature. I do not find that He taught His doctrine 
as a finality or as one of many steps in the progressive development of mankind. 
He gives no opinion. * * * No sect has practically 

taken the words of Jesus for a finality though each counts its own doctrines as the 
last word of God. * * * Whatever is con- 

sistent with reason, conscience and the religious faculty, is consistent with the 
Christianity of Jesus — all else is hostile. Whoever obeys these three oracles is 
essentially a Christian, though he lived ten thousand years before Jesus, or, living 
now, does not own his name." 

"The whirligig of Time brings in his revenges," when in a city where men and 
women were once imprisoned, whipped and hanged for daring to worship God as 
conscience dictated, a statue rises to perpetuate the memory of a man compared 
with whom the most heretical of these victims of Puritan intolerance was intensely 
orthodox. The statue will mark a grander and more fruitful victory than that 
commemorated by the granite obelisk on Bunker Hill. 

Thomas Paine was born in Norfolk, England, 1737. His great 
literary ability made him the friendship of the philosopher, Ben- 
jamin Franklin, who induced him to come to America. His first 
publication was called "Common Sense," which promoted the 
Declaration of Independence. During the war of the Eevolution he 
wrote the "Crisis," and the whole patriot army was inspired by it. 
Other patriotic articles and "tracts" were written by him, and dur- 
ing the war his pen was considered as mighty in leading on the 
armies as their cannon were formidable to the British hosts. He 
was a personal friend of Washington and Jefferson, and assisted 
the latter in getting up the Declaration of Independence, that par- 
took of his spirit. He then went to France where he published 
"The Rights of Man," for which he was prosecuted. During the 
French revolution he was imprisoned. While thus confined a polit- 
ical prisoner, he wrote "The Age of Reason" and had it published. 
This brought down the anathema of the churches on him, yet it 
was only his opinions, just as the rest of the world had a right to, 
and all his labors for the freedom of humanity were lost sight of. 
But "the world moves." He died at seventy-two years of age, 
1809. 

Alexander II, Czar of Russia, was born April 20, 1818, son of 
Nicholas. At sixteen he was declared of age, and given command 
of the Lancers of the Guard; was married- in 1841, and became 
chancellor of the university of Finland, and gained the affections 
of the people of that country; did not approve of his father's course 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. 285 

of action toward Europe, or in the Crimean war. He assumed the 
throne March 2, 1855, and found a divided country. He managed 
for peace and harmony; punished corruption in office, and estab- 
lished public schools. Pardoned the Polish exiles in 1856. The 
grand achievement of his reign was the emancipation of twenty- 
three million of slaves or serfs, March 3, 1861. In 1865 he estab- 
lished elective representative assemblies in the provinces. He car- 
ried on a war against Bakhra, in 1866; Kiva, in 1873; Khakan, in 
1875-76, and personally went for a slice of Turkey in 1877-78. 
Was a kind, agreeable home ruler, yet the nihilist or commune ele- 
ment after threatening his life for some years accomplished his 
death by a nitro-glycerine bomb, while returning from a military 
review, March 13, 1881. The nations mourned his loss deeply, as 
he was trying to improve the condition of his people. He was a 
grand good friend of the United States in the rebellion of 1861. 
He held other nations in check that would like to have destroyed us. 

Horace Greeley was born in New Hampshire, February 3, 
1811. His early life was spent on a farm, where he had no advan- 
tages in schooling or books only as he could pick them up in the 
neighborhood. At the age of fifteen he went to learn the printer's 
trade, in Yermont; he was so diligent and his mind so active that 
he soon became one of the editors. At twenty he made his first 
appearance in New York City, without money or friends, having 
spent all he made in trying to inform himself. He obtained work 
at printing and had a varied experience in many offices, and was 
unusually successful, and made many friends by the art and by able 
articles written after havd study, that when he started in the publi- 
cation of the New York Tribune, in 184:1, he was looked upon as 
able politician, and had a wonderful faculty for obtaining facts and 
statistics. Although beginning in a small way he arose to the 
highest point of eminence as a journalist, and made the Tribune 
what it was, always against slavery. He was a member of con 
gress, in 1848. He wrote many large volumes or books. After 
the war he favored immediate restoration of the southern states to 
their place in government. In 1872 he received the Liberal nomi- 
nation for president, but Grant beat him. He became melancholy 
and his wife soon died when he grew worse and died in 1873. 

Patrick Henry was born in Yirginia, May 29, 1736. He 
received a limited education, was placed in a store, but did no 
good, not having any adaptation for it. He married when eighteen, 
and settled on a farm, which also proved a failure. He then deter- 
mined to study law, and was soon admitted to the bar. His first 



286 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

case was the famous one against the " Parsons," in which he was 
engaged as a last resort by the parish — the lawyers previously 
engaged having given it up — and, climbing over the public, he 
gave the clergy such an overwhelming defeat that his success in 
life at once became an established fact; business and fortune now 
greeted him at every step, and the halls of legislation were open to 
him. He devoted himself to the cause of liberty and became a 
champion of freedom. By his speech before the Virginia Assem- 
bly he fired the whole country with enthusiasm, raising it in arms 
against .England, and himself headed the first warlike demonstra- 
tion. His great power lay in his oratory, and with this brilliant 
gift he labored for the benefit of his country until his death, which 
occurred in 1799. • 

Charles Robert Darwin, the eminent naturalist, was born at 
Edinburg, February 12, 1809. He was educated in the grammar 
school of his native town, at the University of Edinburg, and 
Christ's College, Cambridge, where he took his degree of M. A. 
in 1831. The same year he sailed with Captain Fitzroy, of H. M. 
S. Beagle, as volunteer naturalist in the survey of South America, 
etc. After his return, in 1836, from the voyage, in which he sailed 
around the globe, he published a "Journal of Researches into the 
Geology and Natural History," etc. (1839), which has been pro- 
nounced the "most entertaining book of genuine travels ever 
written." In 1839 he married his cousin, Emma Wedgewood. In 
1841-42 he published "The Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle," 
a "Treatise on Coral Reefs," on "Volcanic Islands," and "Geo- 
logical Observations " in 1846. His monograph on the Corripedia 
(i851-t>3) would have given him a lasting reputation as a philo- 
sophical observer had he never written anything else. In 1859 he 
published his "Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection," 
a work which has attracted much attention and given rise to warm 
controversy in all civilized countries. He published a work on the 
"Fertilization of the Orchids" (1862), the " Habits and Movements 
of Climbing Plants" (1865), ik Domesticated Animals and Culti- 
vated Plants" (1865), and the "Descent of Man" (1871), which 
has attracted scarcely less attention than his st Origin of Species." 
Also in 1872, "The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Ani- 
mals." Darwinism is a term applied to a particular theory of 
development originated by Mr. Darwin, and while based on the 
doctrine of evolution, is not identical with it. He died April 20, 
1882, in London. 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY .. 28T 

Thomas Carlyle was born in Scotland in 1795, was educated at 
Annan and afterward at Edinburg. At eighteen lie and Edward 
Irving opened a school at Kirkcaldy; the latter dying the school 
was left and Carlyle returned to Edinburg and entered on the pro- 
fession of literature, which he ever afterward followed. He trans- 
lated "Leyender's Geometry" and "Wilhelm Meister." In 1826 
he married Jane Welch, a lineal descendant of John Knox. She 
brought him some property; she died in 1866. He devoted much 
time to writing biographical sketches for the "Edinburg Cyclo- 
poedia." He became a popular English aathor, having written 
many volumes. He died at eighty-six years of a^e. 

Dr. Hayes, the Arctic explorer, who died in New York in 1881, 
was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1882. He 
graduated an M. D. in the University of Pennsylvania in 1853; 
was surgeon to the second Grinnell expedition, under Dr. Kane, 
1853-5, and commanded in 1860-1, an expedition in the schooner 
United States, and with a small party in a boat and dog sledges 
reached (via Smith's sound) latitude 80 degrees, 37 minutes north. 
During the civil war he was a medical officer in the service of the 
United States, and in 1869 went in the steamer Panther to Green- 
land. He was awarded gold medals by the London and Paris 
Geographical Societies. Dr. Hayes' published works were as fol- 
lows: "Arctic Boat Journey" (1860); "The Open Polar Sea" (1867); 
"Cast Away in the Cold" (1868), and "Land of Desolation " (1872). 
During the last ten years of his life Dr. Hayes took an active part 
in politics as a republican, and served two terms in the New York 
assembly as a representative from one of the New York city dis- 
tricts, being a member of that body at the time of his death. 

William H. Seward was born in Floraday, New York, May 16, 
1S01. He graduated at Union College in 1821 and commenced 
practicing law at Auburn two years later. He soon became active 
in politics as a whig and then anti-slavery leader, and in 1830 was 
elected to the State senate as an anti-mason. In 1833 traveled in 
Europe. In 1838 he was elected governor and served two terms; 
he rose rapidly in his profession; in 1819 was elected to the United 
States senate, and soon became the leader of his party in the sen- 
.ate. In reference to slavery and the territories he claimed there 
was a higher natural law, that favored equity, than state and na- 
tional laws. In 1858 he spoke of slavery and free labor as "an 
irrepressible conflict between the opposing and enduring forces." 
In speaking in congress just before the war broke out, he said: "I 
avow my adherence to the Union, with my friends, my State, my 



288 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

party, or without them, either — as they may determine — in every 
event of peace or war, with every consequence of honor, dishonor 
life or death." He received 137i votes in 1860 for president in the 
republican convention at Chicago when Lincoln was nominated. 
He was the very able secretary of state under Lincoln for the two 
terms. In August, 1870, he and family started for their tour 
around the world; he received the honors of nations; arrived home 
October, 1871. He was an able author. He died in Auburn, New 
York, October 10, 1872. 

Charges Sumner was born in Boston, Massachusetts, January 6, 
1811. He graduated at Harvard college in 1830. He was first a 
law reporter on "Sumner's Reports" then he edited the "Ameri- 
can Jurist" a quarterly law -journal of high repute. He was also a 
lecturer to law students. Traveled in Europe in 1837. Judge Storey 
spoke of him as a young man of ''extraordinary attainments, liter- 
ary and judicial, and a gentleman of highest purity and propriety 
of character." He received the highest honors wherever he 
went. He opposed the Mexican war, claiming such things should 
be settled by arbitration. He separated from the whig party on ac- 
count of its slavery tendencies and joined the "Free Soil" party. 
He was elected to the United States senate in 1851 and retained 
his seat in the senate till his death. His motto, "Freedom is na- 
tional and slavery sectional," was a £ood guide then. In his ad- 
vocacy of these principles, he said something that offended T. S. 
Brooks, of South Carolina, who used a cane on Sumner in the senate 
chamber, that injured his spine. He afterwards made a speech on 
"The Barbarism of Slavery." His strong influence was felt in the 
election of Lincoln, and during the war was always in favor of mod- 
erate or mild measures against the enemy. His last election to the 
senate was nearly unanimous by all parties. He was a great suf- 
ferer from his injury above referred to. No doubt it shortened his 
life. He died at his post in Washington in 1874. 

James W. Grimes, LL.D., was born in Deering, Hillsborough 
county, New Hampshire, October 20, lSlb, and educated at Dart- 
mouth College. He settled at Burlington, Iowa, — then a territory 
— in May, 1836, and engaged in the practice of law, being very sue- 
cessful in his profession; held a number of minor offices; was elected 
Governor of Iowa by the Whigs and Free-Soilers in 1854; assisted 
in organizing the Republican party. Under the new constitution his 
term as governor expired January, 1858, and was then elected 
United States Senator, and again in 1864, and resigned, in conse- 
quence of failing health, in August, 1869. He was a faithful, 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. 239 

conscientious worker, and a good debater, and was held in highest 
esteem. Some of his party leaders found fault with him for voting 
against the impeachment of President Johnson when he was on 
trial. Mr. Grimes conscientiously believed the grounds were insuf- 
ficient; it turned the scale in Johnson's favor. He afterward said: 
"I shall always thank God that He gave me courage to stand firm 
in the midst of the clamor and by my vote not only saved the 
Republican party, but prevented such a precedent." He died at 
Burlington, Iowa, February 7,, 1872. 

Henry Wilson, LL. D., was born at Farmington, New Hamp- 
shire, February 16, 1812. When but ten years old, in consequence 
of the poverty of his parents, he was bound out to a farmer till he 
was twenty -one. He got for this faithful service eleven months' 
schooling and eighty dollars in all this time. With this 
start he went to Natick, Massachusetts, and settled permanently. 
He was in Washington in 1836, where he first saw slavery, and he 
was so wrought up that he determined to make it a life work to op- 
pose it. In 18-10 he was in the state legislature; in 1844-5 in the 
stare senate, and in 1848 in the whig national convention and be- 
cause they did not pledge themselves against slavery, he openly 
renounced his allegiance to the party, and joined the free soilers. 
He was again elected to the state senate and in 1855 to the United 
States senate where he stayed, and Gen.- Scott says he did more 
work in one short session on the military committee than had been 
done in the committee in twenty years, being an incessant worker. 
In 1872 he was elected vice-president and "snatched leisure" to write 
three large volumes of "The Rise and Fall of the Slave Power." 
His pure, faithful life, commencing right where many young men 
are, should encourage them. He died in the vice-president's apart- 
ments at Washington, November 22, 1875, admired by all good 
men. 

James A. Garfield, late president of the United States, was 
born November 19, 1831, at Orange, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, fif- 
teen miles from Cleveland. His father was Abraham Garfield, 
who died two years after James was born; his mother's name was 
Eliza Ballou, and a remarkably good, intelligent woman. They 
were very poor; James being the youngest of four children, all 
young and dependent, but the mother kept them together and 
trained them the best she could. So you see that young James 
had a struggle to obtain the necessaries of life from the start; he 
farmed, chopped cord wood, drove a horse on the canal tow path, 
and was promoted to hold the helm of the canal boat; he also 
19 



290 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

worked at carpentering when he could get it to do. After his home 
training and reading, while in his teens, he determined to go to 
school, at Geauga academy, in an adjoining county; with a little 
help financially from home, and food and utensils, he rented a 
small room and made a worker's progress in his studies. He paid 
his own way after that by working morning and evening, and dur- 
ing vacation at carpentering and teaching country schools; and so 
worked his way on step by step till he entered Williams College, 
in Massachusetts, in the fall of 1854, where he graduated with the 
metaphysical honors of his class. Was what is called "Disciple" 
in doctrine, of the Alexander Campbell persuasion, and occasion- 
ally preached. He became a professor in Hiram Eclectic Institute, 
not far from his Ohio home, and afterward was made president of 
the institution. "Plain living and high thinking" was the order 
of things there, as it should be everywhere. He married Miss 
Lucretia Kandolph; their children are Harry, James, Mary, Irwin 
and Abram. The college president was elected to the state senate, 
in 1859, where he made his mark. Then, in 1861, was elected 
colonel of the Forty-second Ohio infanty and went into the field, 
where, by hard marching, he surprised Humphrey Marshall, at 
Picton, Kentucky, and routed the rebel forces. This gave him the 
promotion for brigadier-general. In 1862 he was elected to con- 
gress and took his seat in December, 1863, and held the seat, gain- 
ing in influence constantly, until he was elected senator from his 
state, in January, 1880. And after a long and hotly contested cam- 
paign between General Grant and James G. Blaine, General Gar- 
field was nominated for president, at Chicago, in June, 1880, and 
elected that fall to the presidency. He was inaugurated March 4, 
1881, and made a splendid record till he was assassinated July 2d 
the same year, by Charles J. Guiteau shooting him in the back. 
He lingered till September 19, 1881, when he died, and was buried 
at Cleveland, Ohio. The nation, if not the whole world, mourned 
as never before (Lincoln not excepted, though equally meritorious). 
During his illness prayer was universal for his recovery, "yet he 
died under natural law and all prayer, to be effectual, must be in 
harmony with said law," said an eminent M. E. divine at the Gar- 
field memorial service. The murderer was found guilty, as charged, 
in January, 1882, after a long, tedious trial. He had sought office 
and failed, craved notoriety; was hung June 30, 1882. 

Lieut. -Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, ex-President of the United States, 
had a remarkable history; I will give it only brief mention. He 
was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822, of Scotch 



ESSENCE OF BIOGRAPHY. 291 

descent. He attended the military school at West Point, at the age 
of seventeen, but did not rank high in his studies, and graduated 
in 1843. He went through the Mexican war, and received two 
brevets for gallantry. He married Julia T. Dent in 1848, at St. 
Louis. He resigned his captaincy in the army and moved on a 
farm near St. Louis in 1854; had four slaves, but made a failure of 
farming and land agency and in 1860 moved to Galena, 111., and 
engaged in the leather business, where the firing upon Fort Sumter 
found him, and on April 19, 1861, he was drilling a company, and 
in four days took his men to Springfield, there tendering his ser- 
vices to the Adjutant-General for the United States, in any 
capacity. He was commissioned Colonel of the Twenty-first Regi- 
ment of Illinois, and in August, Brigadier-General. He first cap- 
tured Paducah, Ky., and saved that state to the Union; next, Bel- 
mont, Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, his motto being, " No terms 
except unconditional surrender can be accepted," he got it, and a 
Major-General's commission besides; next, Shiloh, Yicksburg and 
Missionary Ridge, which earned him the commission of Lieutenant- 
General. He was then placed over the Potomac army — on to 
Richmond, U I propose to fight it out on this line." General Lee 
surrendered to him April 9, 1865, at the McLean residence in 
Appomattox, Ya. Afterward the great general was made Presi- 
dent of the United States from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877, 
after which he traveled around the world. He became a slave to 
cigar smoking, causing a cancerous condition of the throat, which 
caused his death. He died July 23, 1885, at Mt. McGregor, "N. 
Y., at the age of sixty-three, which event gave rise to the follow- 
ing appropriate lines : 

THE DYING COMMANDER. 

What is the sad rumor flying? 
Grant, the sturdy soldier, dying? 
Grant, the grim, yet glorious Mars, 
Savior of the ftripes and stars — 

Grant, the warrior, dying? 

Grant, whose cool, intrepid bearing 
Stimulated deeds of daring 
In the hottest of the field, 
And whose cry was " Never yield!" — 
Grant, unconquered, dying? 

Grant, whose many faults are hidden 
'Neath the cloak that waves unhidden— 
Royal robe of purple dye- 
In the loom of memory — 

Grant, the hero, dying? 



292 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Ah! 'tis worth a nation's sighing! 
On truth's wings the rumor's flying. 
Softly, friends ! a hero falls 
Whom the unwelcome angel calls — 
Grant, at work, is dying. 

OUR PRESIDENTS. 

Personal Facts About Them— The Day and Date of Birth, When They Were 
Inaugurated, How Long in Office, When and Where They Died. 

The New York Mail says : George Washington was born in Virginia on Fri- 
day, February 11, 1732, old style; February 22, 1732, new style. Became presi- 
dent Thursday, April 30, 1789, at the age of 57 years, 2 months and 8 days. He 
served continuously eight years less two months. He died in Virginia, Saturday r 
December 14, 1799, aged 67 years, 9 months and 22 days. 

John Adams was born in Massachusetts on Wednesday, October 19, 1735, old 
style; October 30, new style. He became president on Monday, March 4, 1793, at 
the age of 57 years, 4 months and 4 days. Served only four years. He died in 
Massachusetts, Tuesday, July 4, 1826, aged 90 years, 8 months and 4 days. 

Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia, Tuesday, April 2, 1743. He was inau- 
gurated Wednesday, March 4, 1801, at the age of 57 years, 11 months and 2 days. 
Served eight years. He died in Virginia on the same day with John Adams, Tues- 
day, July 4, 1826, at the age of 83 years, 3 months and 2 days. 

James Madison was born in Virginia, Tuesday, March 16, 1751. He was in- 
augurated Saturday, March 4, 1809, at the age of 57 years, 11 months and 16 days, 
and served eight years. Died Tuesday, June 28, 1836, aged 85 years, 3 months 
and 12 days. 

James Monroe was born in Virginia on Friday, April 28, 1758. Became presi- 
dent on Tuesday, March 4, 1817, at the age of 58 years, 9 months and 4 days. He 
died in New York on Monday, July 4, 1831 — the third president who died on In- 
dependence Day — aged 73 years, 2 months and 6 days. 

John Quincy Adams, eldest son of President John Adams, was born in Massachu- 
setts on Saturday, July 11, 1767. Became president on Friday, March 4, 1825, at 
the age of 57 years, 7 months and 21 days, and served four years. He died in 
Washington (while a member of the House of Representatives) on Wednesday^ 
February 23, aged 80 years, 7 months and 14 days. 

Andrew Jackson was born in North (or South) Carolina on Sunday, March 15, 
1767. He was inaugurated on Wednesday, March 4, 1829, at the age of 61 years, 
11 months and 17 days, and served eight years. Died in Tennessee on Sunday, 
January 8, 1845, aged 77 years, 9 months and 24 days. (Died on the anniversary 
of his great victory, the battle of New Orleans, thirty years before). 

Martin Van Buren was born in New York on Thursday, December 5, 1782. Was 
inaugurated on Saturday, March 4, 1837, at the age of 54 years and 3 months, and 
served four years. He died in New York on Thursday, July 24, 1862, aged 79 
years, 7 months and 19 days. 

William Henry Harrison was born in Virginia on Thursday, February 9, 1773. 
He was inaugurated on Thursday, March 4, 1841, at the age of 68 years and 2$ 
days, and died in the office just one month later, Sunday, April 4, 1841, aged 68 
years, 1 month and 23 days. 

John Tyler was born in Virginia on Monday, March 29, 1790. Became president 
on the death of Harrison, Sunday, April 4, 1841, at the age of 51 years and 6 days, 



OUR PRESIDENTS. 293 

serving: out that term only. He died Friday, January 17, 1862, aged 71 years, 9 
months and 19 days. 

James Knox Polk was born in North Carolina on Monday, November 2, 1795. 
Was inaugurated Tuesday, March 4, 1845, at the age of 49 years, 4 months and 2 
days, serving four years. He died in Tennessee on Friday, June 15, 1849, only 
eleven weeks after going out of office, aged 53 years, 7 months and 13 days. 

Zachary Taylor was born in Virginia, on Friday, September 24, 1784. He be- 
came president on Monday, March 5, 1849, at the age of 64 years, 5 months and 9 
days. This was the first instance in which the 4th of March, the day for inaugura- 
ting a new president, fell on a Sunday. But it happened at Monroe's second in- 
auguration, and also at the inauguration of President Hayes. Taylor died in of- 
fice on Tuesday, July 1, 1850, at the age of 65 years, 9 months and 15 days. 

Millard Fillmore was born in New York, Tuesday, January 8, 1800. He suc- 
ceeded Taylor on Wednesday, July 10, 1850, at the age of 50 years, 6 months and 
3 days, serving out the term. He died in New York on Sunday, March 8, 1874, 
aged 74 years, 9 months and 1 day. 

Franklin Pierce was born in New Hampshire, on Friday, November 23, 1804, 
and was inaugurated on Friday, March 4, 1853, at the age of 48 years, 3 months 
and 9 days, serving only one term. He died on Friday, October 8, 1869, aged 64 
years, 10 months and 15 days. Born, inaugurated and died on Friday. 

James Buchanan was born in Pennsylvania, on Saturday, April 23, 1791. He be- 
came president on Wednesday, March 4, 1856, at the age of 65 years, 10 months 
and 11 days, serving one term. He died in Pennsylvania on Monday, June 1, 1868, 
aged 77 years, 1 month and 8 days. He was the only president who was never 
married. 

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky on Sunday, February 12, 1809. He be- 
came president on Monday, March 4, 1861, at the age of 52 years and 20 days. 
He served until his assassination in Washington on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, 
(died the next day, April 15) at the age of 56 years, two months and three days. 

Andrew Johnson was born in North Carolina on Thursday, December 29, 1808, 
and became president on Saturday, April 15, 1865, (on the death of Lincoln), at the 
age of 56 years, 3 months and 17 days. He died in Tennessee on Saturday, July 
31, 1875, aged 66 years, seven months and 2 days. 

Ulysses Simpson Grant was born in Ohio on Saturday, April 27, 1822. He was 
inaugurated on Thursday, March 4, 1869, at the age of 46 years, 10 months and 5 
days and served eight years. 

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Ohio on Friday, October 4, 1822, and be- 
came president on Monday, March 5, 1877, at the age of 54 years, 5 months and 1 
day. 

James Abram Garfield was born in Ohio on Saturday, November 19, 1833, and 
was inaugurated on Friday, the 4th day of March, 1881, at the age of 49 years, 3 
months aud 13 days. Shot July 2, 1881. 

Chester A. Arthur was born in 1830. He was vice-president and became presi- 
dent at Garfield's death, and made a good adminstration. He died in 1886. 

Grover Cleveland was born in 1837 and was inaugurated March 4, 1885, serving 
four years. 

Benjamin Harrison was born August 20, 1833, was inaugurated March 4, 
1889, and is making a model adminstration. 



294: 



PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 



AGES AND TERMS OF SERVICE. 



AGE WHEN 
PRESIDENT. 



LENGTH 


OF 




SERVICE. 


] 




w 








A 






ft 




w 




a 


ri 


>> 


ri 


o> 


o 


c3 


03 


>* 


§! 


fi 


>H 



AGE AT 
DEATH. 



Washington., 
John Adams 

Jefferson 

Madison 

Monroe 

.1. Q. Adams.. 
Jackson.. — 
Van Buren... 
Harrison. ... 
Tyler 

Polk 

Taylor 

Fillmore 

Pierce 

Buchanan 

Lincoln 

Johnson 

Grant 

Hayes — .... 
Garfield 



57 


2 


8 


7 


9 


4 


67 


9 


57 


4 


4 


4 








90 


8 


57 


11 


2 


8 








83 


3 


57 


11 


16 


8 








85 


3 


58 


9 


4 


8 








73 


2 


57 


7 


21 


4 








80 


7 


61 


11 


17 


8 








77 


9 


54 


8 





4 








79 


7 


68 





23 





1 





68 


1 


51 





6 


3 


11 





71 


9 


49 


4 


2 


4 








53 


7 


64 


5 


9 


1 


4 


5 


65 


9 


50 


6 


3 


2 


7 


25 


74 





48 


3 


9 


4 








64 


10 


65 


10 


11 


4 








77 


1 


52 





20 


4 


1 


11 


66 


2 


56 


3 


17 


3 


10 


19 


67 


7 


46 


10 


5 


8 












54 


5 


1 


4 












49 


3 


13 
















22 

4 

2 

12 

6 

13 

24 

19 

23 

19 

13 

14 

1 

15 
9 
3 
2 



To be eligible for Representative in Congress one must be a male citizen (native 
or naturalized), 25 years of age, a resident of the State from which he is chosen, 
and seven years a citizen of the country. No matter about his color. 

The qualifications for Senators are the same, with the exception that he must be 
30 years old and nine years a citizen. The pay of Senators and Representatives is 
$5,000 per year, 20 cents per mile for going once at each session to and from the 
capital, and $125 a year for newspapers and stationery. We believe the only in- 
stance cf a Senator under age was Henry Clay. He was appointed or elected to fill 
a vacancy, and took his seat December 29, 1806, but was not 30 years old until the 
12th of the following month. 

The congressional apportionment is made every ten years for the 
lower House of Congress. The Senate is composed of two mem- 
bers from each state. Presidential electors are elected one from 
each congressional district and two at large in each state. Those 
elected meet at the state capital of their respective states, all on the 
same day, and cast their vote and send one copy of the result of 
the vote by mail and one by carrier, to the president of the Senate, 
who is the custodian of them till they are counted before him by 
Congress. The President's term of office begins at noon on the 
fourth of March following his election. 

The greatest political honor that attaches to any office, in our lit- 
tle world, we think rightfully belongs to the President of the 
United States of America, not excepting any of the thrones of the 
Old World. Still there is higher and more lasting honor in many 
of the more common spheres of life if the highest attainable per- 
fection is reached in mechanical skill, engineering, inventing, the 



CABIN PHILOSOPHY. 295 

arts and sciences, statesmanship, philosophy and morals, mother- 
hood and fatherhood, and that which is the highest on the up grade 
toward God is a Man — one that can touch bottom from the phil- 
anthropist down in all that is good from his noble height — a true, 
manly Man. 

With two such souls harmoniously united in love and conditions, 
the climax is reached for true honors; it is not an impossible 
height, and should be the beacon star to be reached by this time at 
near the close of the autumn of life, in my ideal of a natural life. 

Those approaching nearest this point are not all in congress nor 
out of it; not all in the churches nor out of them; not all in heaven 
or out of it. I think the world is growing better. There was a 
time when certain men looked upon others from their own stand- 
point and said they were 4k totally depraved;" such a judge is not 
favorably looked upon in these days. There were good and great 
men as far back as we have any history, in fact, some of them real 
prodigies, and the masses are improving in every succeeding 
generation. The fathers of our country were great and good 
men. Oar most prominent and best informed people say that the 
American Congress of 1890, and especially the Senate, was supe- 
rior to any body of the kind ever convened in any country under 
the sun. Time, in this as in all things, will tell. It is not 
always those who profess the most that possess the most. Work, 
work, work, makes you better and others happier, and you must be 
a good worker if you would gain eminence and become a leader in 
anything. The high or low may take a pleasurable hint from the 
following: 

CABIN PHILOSOPHY. 

Jes' turn de back log ober, dar — an' pull your stools up nigher, 
An' watch dat 'possum cookin' in de skillet by de fire; 
Lemine spread my legs out on de bricks to make my feelin's flow, 
An' I'll gin' you a fac' or two, to take befo' you go. 

Now, in dese busy wukin' days, dey's changed de Scripter fashions, 
An' you needn't look for mirakuls to furnish you wid rations; 
Now, when you's wantin' loaves o' bread, you got to go and fetch 'em, 
An' ef you's wantin' fishes, you mus' dig your wums an 1 ketch 'em; 
For you kin put it down as sartin dat de time is long gone by, 
When sassages and 'taters use to rain fum out de sky! 

Ef you think about it keerfully, an 1 put it to de tes', 

You'll di skiver dat de safes' plan is gin'relly de bes'; 

Ef you stumble on a hornet's nes' an' make de critters scatter, 

Tou needn't stan' dar like a fool an' argerfy de matter; 

An' when de yaller fever comes an' settles all aroun', 

'Tis better dan de karanteen to shuffle out o' town ! 



PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Dar's heap o' dreadful music in de very fines' fiddle; 
A ripe an' raeller apple may be rotien in de middle; 
De wises' loo-kin' trabeler may be de bilges' fool; 
Dar's a lot o' solid kickin' in de humbles' kind o' mule; 
De preacher aint de holies' dat w'ars de meekes' look, 
An' does de loudes' bangin' on de kiver of de book! 

De people pays deir bigges' bills in buyin' lots an' lan's; 
Dey scatter all deir picayunes aroun' de peanut stan's; 
De twenties an' de fifties goes in payin' orf deir rents, 
But Heben an' de organ grinder gits de copper cents. 

I nebber likes the cullud man dat thinks too much o' eatin; 
Dat frolics froo de wukin' days, an' snoozes at de meetin'; 
Dat jines de Temp'rance 'Ciety, an' keeps a gittin' tight', 
An' pulls his water-millions in de middle ob de night! 

Dese milerterry nigger chaps, wid muskets in deir han's, 

Perradin' froo de city to de music ob de ban's, 

Had better drop deir guns, an' go marchin' wid deir hoes 

An' git an' honest libbin' as dey chop de cotton rows, 

Or de State may put 'em arter while to drillin' in de ditches, 

Wid more'n a single stripe a runnin' 'cross deir breeches. 

Well, you think that doin' nothin, 'tall is mighty sof an' nice, 

But it busted up the renters in de lubly Paradise! 

You see, dey bote was human bein's, jes' like me an' you, 

An' dey couldn't regerlate deirselves wid not a thing to do; 

Wid plenty wuk befo' 'em, an' a cotton crop to make, 

Dey'd nebber thought o' loafin' 'roun' an' chattin' wid de snake. 

—J. A. Macon, in^Scnibner. 

THE WINTER PERIOD OF LIFE. 

Whij not Be Happy. 

SOMEHOW OR OTHER. 

Life has a burden for every man's shoulder, 

One may escape from its troubles and care; 
Miss it in youth and 'twill come when we're older, 

And fit us as close as the garment we wear. 

Sorrow comes into our lives uninvited, 
Robbing our hearts of their treasures of song; 

Lovers grow cold and friends are slighted, 
Yet somehow or other we worry along. 

Everyday toil is everyday blessing. 

Though poverty's cottage and crust we may share, 
Weak is the back on which burdens are pressing, 

But stout is the heart that is strengthened by prayer. 

Somehow or other the pathway grows brighter, 
Just as we mourn that there are none to be friend; 

Hope in the heart makes the burden seem lighter, 
And somehow or other we get to the end. 

— George Heuen, 




DQ 



WINTER PERIOD OF LIFE. 297 

Oh, "the snow, the beautiful snow" crowned heads of our 
worthy grand parents. "Somehow or other" grandmother and 
father have worried along, till they have now just begun the last 
one-fourth of a natural life here. How grand and good and happy 
they should be. Naturally during the spring time of life the good 
seeds should be sown; the summer time given to culture, and in 
the autumn the fruits come freely if all has been well done, and 
just as naturally, when the outer show of foliage and flowers fade, 
the fruits garnered, winter comes with its flakes. We house wp 
and look within for the social, congenial life surrounding the family 
circle. The neighborhood circle, where there is or should be a 
cultivating revival of everything good within; the circle of society, 
head and heart. Why, oh why, should not %t December be as 
pleasant as May?" Why should it not be the holiday of life to the 
good, cultivated, old saint, as well as the spring season is to the 
young and buoyant. 

If we have given away to bad habits, bad management and bad 
surroundings during the past life, we will hardly be prepared for a 
happy conclusion, for circumstances will be all against it. 

We are creatures of circumstances, to a certain extent, but when 
they are against the advance of the right, then is the time that the 
God like spark within should assert itself grandly and rise above 
the circumstances. Then you can feel yourself a man among men 
and before God. 

Wealth in property is not essential, but desirable if honestly 
gained, but it should be accumulated in mind, for it is the mind 
that makes the man. It does not do for the old, any more than the 
young, to give up and say, " I am old and cannot cultivate." Not- 
withstanding the body may be weak and failing the mind should be 
constantly cultivated till the dissolution comes. It ; s when people 
are prospering that they are happy. Why not keep right on en- 
riching the storehouse of knowledge and not fret and complain of 
all around you simply because you have fallen behind the train of 
progress. The fog has arisen; there is a clear sky just beyond the 
mist — even the heavily laden freight train is just ahead of the 
clouds. How much better if you were on that, if not with the pas- 
senger express train. Those who are prepared for the great pas- 
senger train and always on time, will enjoy it; it will glide along 
pleasantly, while the fault finding brother and sister have taken a 
seat in the depot and are waiting for it to start, but think it too 
much trouble to even get on the passing trains if they were going 
to glory. Those who get on the express train flit by all else so fast 



298 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

that a jealousy arises and they are unpopular for a time, at least 
till the other trains catch up to their station. 

Bemeinber how it was with Socrates, Galileo, Luther, Harvey, 
Fulton, Morse, and many others whom the people thought 
beside themselves, but when the slower trains came up, and the 
forerunners said to them, "The things that I do ye shall do, and 
greater things," for I go on to the next station, then all the people 
worship them and concede that they were sane all the time. If 
you cannot be a good leader you can be a good follower, and if it 
is a heavy load on an up grade be ready to put a c ; scotch " behind 
the wheel to prevent its going backward, and you will be more use- 
ful and happy than those throwing impediments in the way of the 
trains. The world moves on, and our good people with it, onward 
and mpward, and we should all keep abreast of the times and in 
line with the march of progress, and, if possible, be found at the 
head of the procession. 

AGED PEOPLE. 

When we look about us it is plainly to be seen that " three score 
and ten " does not kill, if unwholesome conditions do before that 
length of time. Among my old friends that visit me occasionally 
is my own dear mother, eighty- four years of age, hale and hearty 
for one of her advanced years, who even now does more work and 
reads more than many young women. Stepfather Yan Tassel, at 
the age of ninety, is in like condition, and is engaged in wrestling 
with the mysteries of perpetual motion, with a fond hope of real- 
izing a practical solution of the vexed problem — a living example 
of patience and devotion for ambitious young men who have a 
desire to fathom the depths of mystery and reveal to the world 
hitherto hidden principles of philosophy which will advance 
science and immortalize the discoverer. My loving old uncle, R. 
Richards, reached the age of seventy-six, though rather feeble, he 
died hopeful and cheerful. The oldest person living in Iowa is 
supposed to be Mrs. Madden, of Plymouth county, who is 110 
years old. She is still strong and hearty, and retains her faculties 
to a remarkable degree. A local paper says: "It is no task for 
her to walk to town from home, a distance of two miles, and back 
again. She distinctly remembers events that occurred eighty and 
ninety years ago." 

All are interested in the subject of the duration of life; I there, 
fore annex the following cases of longevity, which I trust will be 
interesting to the reader: 



OLD AGE. 

Old Mr. Ferguson, of our place, states that his parents are still living in Scot- 
land, his father being 115 and his mother 111 years old, and that they were 
married when his father was l 23 and his mother 19 years old, and hence have been 
married 92 years. Does the world furnish a parallel case? 

BORN IN 1773 DIED IN 1883. 

The death of Bernard Doran, janitor of Grammar School No. 30, at the extra- 
ordinary age of one hundred and ten years, was reported yesterday. He was a 
native of Ireland, and his son, John, says that in 1829, he saw the old family bible, 
in which his father's birth was recorded as having taken place on January 7, 1773. 
Doran's father was land agent for Sir John Stewart, and. it is said, lived to be one 
hundred and four \ears old. The late janitor came to this country in 1839, and 
was appointed in 1845 to the position which be held up to the time of his death, 
he has twice married, and had nine children, three of whom, now very old, survive 
him. Doran never drank a drop of liquor and never used tobacco. He had always 
enjoyed the best of health, and never had occasion to consult a physician until 
within a few days of his death. He died from general debility incidental to 
extreme old age. — From the New York World. 

OLDER THAN THE G. O. M. 

There is an older man than Gladstone in the new British parliament. Gladstone 
was born in 1809, while Isaac Holden, who represents the Keinhley division of 
Yorkshire, was born in 1807. He is the oldest und probably the richest member 
of the house, having an income of a round million a year from his silk and wool 
manufactures. He is even more vigorous physically than is the grand old man, 
and eight miles a day is his constitutional walk, rain or shine, hot or cold. His 
political sympathies are all with Gladstone, whom he styles a very bright and 
promising young man. — From the Boston Herald, August, 1892. 

Mr. Gladstone has been a worker daily, S3^stematically, physic- 
ally as well as mentally. That makes men useful as well as 
ornamental in history. Try it, and be useful. 

But the number of brain-workers who passed three and four score is two large 
for mention in this space. Fontanelle outlived a century; and when asked, as he 
was dying, if he felt pain, said: "I only feel the difficulty of existing.' 1 (Singularly, 
an exactly similar sentiment was uttered by the dying Garfield.) Again a friend 
of 90 who approached him said: "Death, I think, has forgotten us." "Hush!" 
whispered Fontanelle, "he may overhear us." Bacon declared that literary life 
produced longevity. Plato died in his 81st year, while writing. Isocrates wrote 
his Panathenaican in his 94th year, and lived five years more. Georgias, the 
Leontine, completed 118 years, laboring to the end of his life. Cato learned Greek 
at 80, and wrote his seventh book of Antiquities in his 84th year. Cicero found it 
recorded that Arganthonious reigned at Gades, on the island of Cadiz, eighty 
years, and lived 120. Longfellow, in immortal verse, has limned this: 

Cato learned Greek at eighty; Sophocles 

Wrote his (Edipus, and Siruonides 

Bore off the prize of verse from his compeers 

"When each had numbered more than four score years; 

And Theophrastus, at four score and ten, 

Had but begun his character of Men. 



300 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Chaucer, at Woodstock with the nightingales, 
At sixty wrote the Canterbury Tales; 
Goethe at Weimar, toiling to the last, 
Completed Faust when eighty years were past. 
These are indeed exceptions ; bat they show 
How far the gulf-stream of your youth may flow 
Into the Arctic regions of our lives, 
Where little else than life itself survives. 

—J. M. McMichael. 

The Popular Science says: 

On a full examination of the question of patriarchal longevity, the disparity of 
their ages to those of later times disappears. A very slight error in the transla- 
tion of the Hebrew numbers has led to all this apparent disparity. The age of the 
antediluvians was not to exceed 120 years. Genesis vi., 3: "And the Lord said, 
My spirit shall not always strive with men, for that he is also flesh, yet his days 
shall be 120." This was the regular good old age of men, with special variations, 
both before and for some time after the days of Abraham. 

In reading concrete numbers the Hebrews gave the large number first, thus: 
Ninety and seven for 97, forty and seven for 47. The reversal of this rule in the 
translation of Genesis v., 3-5, as an illustration, will show the error in all similar 
cases. " Adam lived a 130 years, begot a son," etc. This is correct according to 
the rule. Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old, and was his last child. 
But if the rule were here reversed, as it is in the authorized version, in the fifth 
verse, it would read thus: Adam lived 3000 years, and begat a son! This shocked 
the consciousness of the Christian translator, and he was driven to the true rule of 
the Hebrew uses in case of concrete numerals. 

In the fifth verse we have the force of the violated rule, thus : "And all the days 
that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died! " A. V. The true reading of the 
rule would be, "and all the days of Adam which he lived were a hundred years 
and thirty and nine years, and he died," making the entire age o^ Adam 139 years 
instead of 930 years. 

It will be seen, on examination, that concrete numeral adjectives in Hebrew, as 
in other languages, agree in number with their' nouns. In the cited in the A. V. 
the nine is made to agree with hundred in the singular and not with the years in 
the plural. The error is seen at a glance or the difference between " nine years '" 
and "nine hundred years " is too great to be overlooked in any careful translation 
of the sacred book. The translator assumed that nine here agreed with the 
hundred, when it had no such agreement; hundred in the text is itself a concrete 
numeral, and separately agrees with years, meaning a hundred years; at the date 
of this writing "nine hundred" or any number of hundreds above one, without 
repitition or circumlocution. 

In the case of the age of Terah, the father of Abraham, the translators have made 
the attempt to make two hundred out of one hundred in the word mathim, used in 
thepural as it might be to agree with years, thus making Terah 205 instead of 105 
years old at his death; holding the theory that the word mae (or 100) would in the 
plural mathim make 200. This is contrary to aft rule. The Hebrews could by 
pluralizing a numeral less than 10, add ten-fold to the unit, thus: hemosh, 5heinos- 
him, 50. This rule, applied in case of Terah, would make him ten times 150 years 
old, or 1050 years old. In the case of Terah the historic record conclusively con- 
tradicts the translation, and hence demonstrates the rule that pluralizing 100 does 



OLD AGE. 301 

not, in the Hebrew tongue, make 200, while as to the numerals between 2 and ten 
the rule might apply thus: Shelesh, 3 Sheleshim, 30, and in like manner to 10, 
with these corrections referring to the age of the patriarchs before the . Noachian 
deluge, the article of M. de Solaville would show a wonderful uniformity in the 
age of man since the dawn of history. 

From Adam to the flood the ages would read as in the table below, subject to a 
few uncertainties in the numbers below 100, as the numerals are sometimes plural- 
ized for the purposes of agreement, when they were not increased ten-fold. The 
cases are not always certain; the table to the flood is substantially true. The 
table is added, giving the ages of each at the time of his death. 

1. Adam, 130 years, and not 930 years. 

2. Seth, 121 years, and not 912 years. 

3. Enos, 114 years, and not 935 years. 

4. Cain, 119 years, and not 910 years. 

5. Mahalaleel, 122 years, and not 832 years. 

6. Jared, 117 years, and not 965 years. 

7. Enoch, 114 years, and not 365 years. 

8. Methuselah, 124 years, and not 969 years. 

9. Lamech, 117 years, and not 777 years. 

10. Noah, 159 years, and not 950 years. 
Average 120 plus years. 

The world's statistics, so far as there have been any kept, indi- 
cate that the average length of human life has increased about ten 
years. In the light of this fact there seems to be no natural way to 
account for the great age of Mathuselah, only to conclude that the 
account is traditional or that it is miscalculation as above repre- 
sented; otherwise it would require too much credulity to establish 
the fact. Our ablest ministers tell us they cannot account for the 
discrepancy in any other way. If the world is on the upward 
grade, as history seems to indicate, why not continue to develop 
more and more in bodily vigor and tenacity of mind, taking hold 
of the physical sciences and unraveling the mysteries of one world 
at a time ? But some people are fearful of delving into the mys- 
teries of God's domain or Godliness. Nothing but good can come 
of it if we earnestly search for the truth, the whole truth and nothing 
but the truth, and the man who has had a long life, and good, 
moral culture, should be the very man to dip deepest into the mys- 
teries, for it is this that will induce him to look up to the Highest 
of the High for the cause of all things. These things, they will 
undoubtedly conclude, did not come by mere chance, but by some 
process of development under universal laws that under like cir- 
cumstances act the same everywhere. 

Such grand, old mothers and fathers will have something worth 
telling to the confiding children that would look up to them with 



302 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

awe far above the wonderful, stately mountains, that best repre- 
sent them in age and in their rich treasures within — represented in 
all the valuable metals from the commonest up to the pure gold. 
Then if the outward appearance is not as smooth as it was once, it 
is grand and reverential, and we know where to look for the gold; 
they will be safe counselors and tell you many things in past his- 
tory, and of his or her youthful hopes and disappointments or suc- 
cesses, sorrows and joys; but somehow or other they have worried 
along, and like the stately oak, the adverse winds have made them 
stronger; and, at this age, their star of hope is anchored somewhere 
in a higher sphere of action, hence they will take more interest in 
that subject and go with you further in climbing Jacob's ladder than 
in any other direction. 

HOPE. 

There is a star that shineth 

Above the thickest gloom, 
And the sorrowing: heart divineth 

Its light beyond the tomb. 
With steady, constant ray it gleams 

Upon the path of Youth, 
And tingeth all its golden dreams 

With colorings of truth. 

Far out upon the ocean 

Its cheering light is shed 
Yet hath no mortal seen this star, 
8 The living nor the dead. 
But in the heart and in the soul 

Where death and danger cope, 
Assuming with a firm control 

Doth shine this Star of Hope. 

— Rear Admiral Stevens. 

THE HEAVENLY RAILWAY AND FULL TRAIN OF THINKERS. 

We will here collect a few thoughts and opinions on religion and 
morals, and those things calculated to make the reader think for 
himself and try and become purer and better, under natural law 
principles, which are safe and abiding as the great author of them; 
just such things as the writer wishes his own numerous offspring to 
know, think and profit by, for the present and future good of them 
and all who may read these pages, is the sincere desire of the 
humble author. 

Do not think it is best for you to sit down in the depot and let 
all the trains pass that would furnish you the latest and best inform- 
ation. If you would open your eyes and ears you might learn 



HEAVENLY RAILWAY. 303 

that it was actually necessary for you to do something. At least 
make effert enough to get your eyes open and read the advertise- 
ments of each heavenly railroad if you expect to go there, and try 
and determine which route is the best one. In doing this, if you 
are well balanced, you will cultivate yourself and others physically, 
mentally and morally. Then in the investigation you may find 
many of them were built of very poor material in the first place, 
and then set up on total depravity stilts which require a constant 
bracing, and frequently special providence to keep them on their 
4 'pegs." The material and construction being so poor it causes 
much friction and consequently fire and brimstone that requires 
much water to quench the flames. So much extreme heat and then 
cold suddenly injures the material used for rails, and the friction 
has worn them out till they are very weak and vibrate with the 
least possible breeze, making it unpleasant, unsafe and uncertain 
about ever reaching the destination. If it does it will probably be 
the lowest station or sphere. Their purpose may have been good 
and pure, but not well advised in the construction, for the want of 
knowledge that time and the progress of events have developed. 

If now, in the light of the nineteenth century, these companies 
or societies could be reorganized and the weak doctrinal stilts, 
rotten rails and ties thrown out, and with an effort to live not 
altogether by faith, but go to work like men and lay a good and 
substantial foundation on tried and proved natural and moral laws, 
which may be strengthened from time to time as experience teaches 
to be safest and best, we would then have a foundation upon which 
to place the ties of affection for any given good work. Then put 
on the best steel rails possible, for a determined course of work, 
with all the switches necessary for safety and feeders; then get on 
the track with a good will for an engine and a healthy body for a 
tender and train, put your willing, working hands and feet in 
motion to bless all mankind, doing so with proper care for your- 
self, and the friction by coming in contact with opposing elements 
will keep your engine and machinery bright — so bright that it will 
be better than a light set upon a hill top. By the way, you may 
find it profitable to widen and improve your track as well as the 
machinery; if you should have to lay by for repairs on account of 
some unforeseen accident, you may improve the time in some other 
way and thus cultivate at other points, so that when the last sta- 
tion is reached in this sphere and the external machinery is worn 
out and no longer tenable, the inner man, the more refined 
machinery, is developed for like loved employment in higher 



304 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

spheres, and thus go on from station to station, up toward the great 
I Am of the universe. Watts says: 

There we will sit and sing 
Ourselves away to everlasting bliss. 

There may be a beautiful ideal in that to a lazy professor of the 
old train; but no live progressive man, who knows anything of 
the natural law principles and believes them universal, conceives 
any such an idea or desire. Sixty years trial in this life satisfies 
me that it is not my ideal of Heaven. 

Success toward the star of progress is what gives good men 
pleasure here, and we think the law and analogy will hold good 
hereafter, developing the divine spark which every man possesses 
by nature. 

Look through nature up to nature's God. — Pope. 

A PLEA FOE LIBERALITY OF THOUGHT IN THE CHURCHES. 

This may sound strange in free and independent America. Yet 
it is not very strange when we take into the account the source 
from which the creeds, discipline and various articles of faith of 
some six hundred different denominations come. But I shall claim 
here that the masses of the people in free and enlightened America 
are far superior in thought to their society creeds or doctrines of 
faith. These doctrinal articles were gotten up, quite generally, by 
well meaning men, based on the traditions brought to them from 
past ages, taking it for granted that men are "totally depraved," 
and that a special providence of God is essential to salvation, and 
in proof of the claim give an account of the creation of the world 
and all things therein in six days, and how the "snake" took the 
advantage of God's absence and led men astray; then charge God 
with having fixed, planned and located an eternal hell, where his 
creatures, in human form, would be sent and tortured throughout 
endless ages in fire and brimstone fume if he did not pay tribute 
to such and such creeds. 

As a sample of such extreme self- righteousness, with bigoted 
intolerance and silly credulity in the teachings of past a«:es by such 
people, I clip from a county paper here of February 18, 1892: 

The only persons of earth who will or can inhabit heaven is the purely 
unselfish ones. It makes but little difference what their condition in life may 
be, they will be taken care of by Christ, the great leader and exemplifier of 
an unselfish human nature. This rule will send -to heaven of adults about 
one out of every five thousand of the human race. Yet Horace Greeley, after 
a long life of dealing with his fellows came to the conclusion and on one 
occasion said that "not one half enough men went to hell." 



MORE LIBERALITY OF THOUGHT IN CHURCHES. 305 

This is an editorial item in full, by a man who has had advan- 
tages far above the average, and makes a loud profession as a 
church member, still would "send to heaven of adults about one 
out of every five thousand. " Did you ever hear of a "purely un- 
selfish" person? If so, they were not of sound mind. Nature or 
grace don't develop them to that condition, and Christ did not 
come to "take care" of such, "but to save sinners," which cer- 
tainly gives us all a fighting chance of heaven. Eveiy minister 
appeals to our own self interest; every good person works for self 
interest. It is the extreme abuse of it that injures others that 
makes it a sin. These self-righteous ones tell us "God created 
man for his own glory." Is that selfish? 

The assertion about Horace Greeley does not sound like truth or 
any of his humanitarian teachings. Is it pure " unselfishness for 
me to sacrifice my life, my all, to save others- few or many— or a 
principle, when common sense tells me there is great good or glory 
to follow it? I trow not. 

Now for a sample of church creeds. These are the sentences in 
the chapter which are thought by many Presbyterians to be too 
strong: 

3— By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and 
angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlast- 
ing death. 

4 — These angels and men thus predestinated and foreordained, are particularly 
and unchangeably designed; and their number is so certain and definite that it 
cannot be either increased or diminished. 

6 — As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath He, by the eternal and 
most free purpose of His will, foreordained ail the means thereunto. Wherefore 
they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectu- 
ally called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due season; are justified, 
adopted, sanctified and kept by His power through faith unto salvation. Neither 
are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified 
and saved, but the elect only. 

7 — The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the unsearchable coun- 
sel of His own will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy as He pleaseth, for 
the glory of His sovereign power over His creatures, to pass by, and to ordain them 
to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice. 

We have great respect for the Presbyterian church and her min- 
istry, but abhor the above statements. It is not likely that one 
Presbyterian out of a thousand to-day would be willing to go into 
the pulpit and preach and defend "God's eternal decrees," which 
is the title of the third chapter containing the above statements. 

Thank the God whom we serve that such false theories are fast 
losing their superstitious force among the better classes of think- 
20 



306 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

ing people. I love pure and undefiled religion, that which makes 
men better and purer from- day to day, in body, mind and spirit; 
a religion that enables one to love his neighbor as such — no matter 
what his creed or profession — and to be found doing good works, 
as Christ did, and permit every person to become a savior of men 
from evil to the extent of his influence and ability. How much 
superior is such a man to the well meaning good brother who is 
creed-bound and credulous to the extent of being all wrapped up so 
tight in the old superstitious notions of things that he cannot see a 
fellow-being without that old " mote," who perverts his vision and 
makes others appear to him much worse than they really are ? 

Such as do build their faith upon 
The holy text of pike and gun, 
Decide all controversies by 
Infallible artillery, 
And prove their doctrine orthodox, 
By apostolic blows and knocks. 

Shall I hope the reader will have moral courage enough to do 
himself and me the justice of investigating, as I have done, before 
he disputes my statements, or calls in question the intentions or 
advanced position on these important subjects. And I think no 
man who has religion enough to do him any good, here or here- 
after, will be likely to do so, unless he sets his own judgment up 
against evidence. If truth is orthodox I want all I can get of it 
from all sources, high or low; but if there are things called othodox 
that are not true in the light of God, in nature and experience; let 
us be libeial enough to let it. slip, if it is in our creed or bible; for 
we know of nothing that is perfect; even the bible has been revised 
and many passages left out entirely and others changed, materially 
improving them. In a number of places buried the word hell in 
hades. It is a very ancient word, older than Moses, as taught 
when people had more of the revengful spirit than now. The ven- 
erable old book has gone through other revisers' hands, before this 
council. I will here speak of one of them you may not have known 
of as I find there are very few ministers or others who ever knew 
of there being an Apocryphal New Testament. I have a very 
ancient one, that gives in a preface, the account of the circum- 
stance of the compiling of our New Testament; and the Apocrypal 
one is said to contain all the books and chapters thrown out, that 
were called sacred during the first four hundred years after Christ. 
It contains the u Infancy of Christ, and all the writing, that is pre- 
served, of hio own. Then the writings of Paul, and other books 



MORE LIBERALITY OF THOUGHT IN CHURCHES. 307 

called Nicodemus, Clementis, Barnabas, Ephesians, Tralleians, 
Komans, Philippians, Hermas and others, making a book about 
the size of the New Testament. It is written in the same way as 
the part in common use; it contains many things interesting and 
that explain many things in the accepted version. 

Now you may be anxious to know why it is not included in the 
one in use. It says it was in this wise: ' "Alexander, Bishop of 
Alexandria, and Arius, who was a presbyter in his diocese, dis- 
puted together about the nature of Christ, and the bishop being 
displeased at the notions of Arius, and finding they were adopted 
by other persons, was very angry. He commanded Arius to come 
over to his sentiments, and to quit his own. As if a man could 
change his opinion as easy as he can change his coat. He then 
called a council of war, consisting of nearly a hundred bishops, 
and deposed, excommunicated and anathmetized Arius, and with 
him several ecclesiastics, two of whom were bishops. Alexander 
then wrote a circular letter to all the bishops, in which he repre- 
sents Arius and his partizans as heretics, apostates, blasphemous 
enemies of God; full of imprudence and impiety, fore-runners of 
anti- Christ, imitators of Judus, and men whom it was not lawful to 
salute or bid Godspeed." 

Then it goes on to say there was no doubt of the probity and 
sincerity of Arius and his friends, and the above language of Alex- 
ander does not prove that he had any religion if he was the highest 
bishop and authority. But Constane could not settle it. "To set- 
tle this and other points the Nicen council, consisting of about 
three hundred and eighteen bishops, was summoned. The first 
thing they did was to quarrel," and present charges to the Emperor 
against one another, who burned their "by bills and counseled 
them to proceed; and they took the hint and decided, another ac- 
count says, by ballot. What should be canonical and what you 
have was the result, but you got revelations by a bare majority, and 
James, Jude, Second Peter, and Second and Third John by a little 
majority, and others were excluded by small majorities. From the 
spirit manifested by some of those bishops, I cannot think they were 
the equals of the ministers of our day, and don't' think their de- 
cisions are worth any more, especially as they were mostly illiterate 
men and very superstitious. 

At this time, August, 1892, is the latest: The Begister says: 

A new version of the Bible will soon be printed. The translating has been done 
by eminent scholars under the leadership of Prof. Haupt of Johns Hopkins College. 
Among the assistants is Prof. Briggs of Union Theological College. To show the 



308 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

manner in which the work has been done the following comparison of the verses 
beginning with the ninth verse of the eleventh chapter of Ecclesiastics is made. 
In the new translation they read: 

But rejoice, 0, youth, in thy childhood, 

And let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy manhood; 

Walk in the ways of thy heart, 

And in the sight of thine eyes, 

Banish moroseness from thy heart, 

But keep away evil from thy flesh. 

For childhood and manhood are fleeting." 
In the old translation these verses read as follows: 

Rejoice, 0, young man, in thy youth; and let thine heart cheer thee in the days 
of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; 
but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee unto judgment. There- 
fore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh ; for child- 
hood and youth are vanity. 

The difference in these renderings of the same passages is very marked. There 
are fewer threats of judgment in the new. One of the leading spirits in the work, 
Dr. Alexander Johnson, says of the new translation: 

The higher criticism of the Bible has received much unmerited abuse from those 
who do not fully comprehend its nature and scope. It is, however, merely the 
exercise of the reasoning faculties with which man has been endowed by the 
Creator. The Bible is not itself the inspired word of God, but contains that word, 
and critical investigation is necessary in order to determine what was the original 
word of God and what has been added by man. Let any one, for example, cut 
out from the New Testament the genuine sayings of our Lord and paste them 
together, rejecting all additions of narrative and commentary, and he will easily 
see what is inspired and what is not. A number of distinguished scholars all over 
the world are now engaged in the literary study of the Bible, but, obviously, all 
critical investigation becomes an impossibility if the book be considered as verbally 
inspired. The object of the highest criticism is, therefore, to separate the everlast- 
ing inspired substance and quintessence as the Bible from later additions and inter- 
polations, and to assign to each book in the sacred writings its proper place in the 
development of the chosen people. 

GREAT MEN'S OPINIONS. 

Eev. Wm. M. Taylor, D. D., an able Presbyterian divine, in a 
sabbath school lesson on Philip and the Ethiopian, says that the 
words, "If thou believest with all thy heart thou mayest," are 
spurious and not in the original. The same is true of the 
seventh verse of the fifth chapter of First John, and it was in 
brackets since Luther's first edition, and then since removed (as to 
the trinity). Then many able divines claim that the Bible is largely 
historical only from the writers stand point. 

Old Version, II. Tim., Hi. 16. 

All Scripture is given by inspira- 
tion of God, and is profitable for doc- 
trine, for reproof, for correction, for 
instruction in righteousnsss. 



New Version, II. Tim., Hi. 

Every Scripture inspired of God is 
also profitable for teaching, for re- 
proof, for correction, for instruction, 
which is in righteousness. 



GREAT MEN'S OPINIONS. 309 

In the Apocryphal testament, you may find the Apostles Creed 
of interest, the account of Christ's descent to hell, and a large num- 
ber of Christian authorities that lived from two to four hundred 
years after Christ, and wrote catalogues of the books thought gen- 
uine, that did not regard some of the common version as genuine. 
So with the changes going on now, the credulous brothers have cer- 
tainly not got very solid foundation on which to assert, as I have 
heard them, that the Bible is perfect and of divine origin, that if 
there is one word of truth in it every word of it is true and of 
divine origin. Such simple faith cannot be grounded on evidence, 
and it prevents a natural love for progress on the natural law prin- 
ciples, that would lead us closer and still closer to God. It has 
retarded the advance of the sciences and philosophy in the past. 
Look at the history of the inquisitions which put men to death as 
heretics, for advanced notions, and required Gallileo to recant or 
be beheaded, when he said the world moved, and showing that the 
world was not flat as they claimed. And in the same spirit, Cal- 
vin burned at the stake, the great, good and pure Servetis, because 
he did not believe that Christ was God in the way Calvin taught 
it, but now- a- days, parties of that spirit, cry out, "infidel," at all 
parties who do not agree with them, or question the plenary in- 
spiration of the Bible. 

While the most intelligent divines do not claim it. "No man 
hath seen God at any time," John 1:18; "Whom no man hath 
seen nor can see," I. Timothy 6:16; "Ye have neither heard his 
voice at any time nor seen his shape," John 5:27. So He hardly 
told the writers of these passages what to say, and as to an inspira- 
tion by or through angels will hardly be attempted except by spirit- 
ualists. The agency presumed in the angel that John the revivalist 
was about to fall down and worship, does not tell us he ever saw 
God, but said that he himself was one of thy fellow servants and of 
thy brethren the prophets, Bev. 22:9- 

Credulity, whether orthodox or not, allows men and women to 
£0 to sleep and become drones in God's hive. While doubt causes 
investigation, and thus makes strong men and women. I will here 
give the opinions of a number of the ablest divines of the nation: 
The Bev. Dr. Wheedon, the able editor of the Methodist Quarterly 
Review, in the October number, 1876, page 727, in speaking of the 
Bible says, "save the decalogue alone, the text is merely human, 
and in what proportion the human and divine are mingled is a 
problem not wholly soluble." Then no man should find fault with 
others till he can solve the problem himself. 



310 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

JOSEPH ERNEST REN AN. 

A Frenchman Whose Name is Known all over the World. 

Joseph Ernest Renan, the orientalist, and philological and philosophical writer, 
was born in 1823, at Treguier, Cotes-du-Nord. He originally studied for the church, 
but his wonderful aptitude for oriental languages opened to him paths that led hirn 
away from the priesthood. His papers on the "Study of Greek in the West, During 
the Middle Ages," and "On the Semitic Languages,'' both won prizes. His investi- 
gation of the origin of Christianity comprises several books: "LeVie de Jesus," 
"L'Aporte" and others. He translated the Canticles and the Book of Job with 
commentaries, "Caliban," a sequel to Shakespeare's "Tempest" and "L'Abbesse 
de Jouarre," a drama in five acts, are two of his remaining works. He holds the 
rank of commander in the "Legion d'Honneur." His great work, however, is the 
research of the origin of Christianity, which he <rlaims has grown out of the circum- 
stances of the times, like any other event in the history of the world. 

In answer to iDgersoll's request in a public lecture at Chicago, 
about the first of May, 1879, a number of ministers of that city 
said as to what they thought of the Bible and its inspiration. 

Eev. Kobert Colly er said: 

"It is a splendid book. It makes the noblest type of Catholics and the meanest 
bigots. Through this book men give their hearts for good to God, or for evil to 
the devil. The best argument for the intrinsic greatness of the book is that it can 
touch such wide extremes, and seem to maintain us in the most unparalleled 
cruelty, as well as the most tender mercy; that it can inspire purity like that of 
the great saints and afford arguments in favor of polygamy. The Bible is the 
text book of iron-clad Calvinism and sunny Universalism. It makes the Quaker 
quiet and the Millerite crazy. It inspired the Union soldier to live and grandly die 
for the right, and Stonewall Jackson to live nobly and die grandly for the wrong.' * 

"I look upon the Old Testament as a rotting tree. When it falls it will fertilize 
a bank of violets." 

"There is threefold inspiration in the Bible, the first peerless and perfect, the 
word of God to man; the second simply and purely human, and then below this 
again, there is an inspiration born of an evil heart, ruthless and savage there and 
then as anything well can be. A threefold inspiration, of heaven first, then of the 
earth, and then of hell, all in the same book, all sometimes in the same chapter, 
and then, besides a great many things that need no inspiration. 

"The scriptures make no such claim for themselves as the church makes for them. 
They leave me free to say this is false, or this is true. The truth even within the 
Bible dies and lives, makes on this side and loses on that. 

"As to the curse on him that adds to or takes from the book I have but one 
answer to this question and it is: Let who will have written this, I cannot for au 
instant believe that it was written in a divine inspiration. Such dogmas and 
threats as these are not of God, but of man, and not of any man of a free spirit 
and heart eager for the truth, but a narrow man who would cripple and confine 
the human soul in its quest after the whole truth of God, and back those who have 
done the shameful things in the name of the Most High. 

Kev. Doctor Thomas said: 



GREAT MEN'S OPINIONS 311 

"My opinion is that it is not one book, but many — thirty-nine books bound up 
in one. The date and authorship of most of th^se books are wholly unknown. 
The Hebrews wrote without vowels and without dividing the letters into syllables, 
words or sentences. The books were gathered up by Ezra. At that time only two 
of the Jewish tribes remained. All progress hid cea^d. In gathering up the 
sacred book, copyists exercised great liberty in making changes and additions. 

"There may be the inspiration of art, of noetry, or oratory; of patriotism — and 
there are such inspirations. There are moments when great truths and principles 
come to men. They seek the man and not the man them. 

"But still I know of no way to convince any one of spirit and inspiration and 
God only as his reason may take hold of these things. 

"The story of Eden may be allegory; the history ot the children of Israel may 
have mistakes. 

"It is a mistake to say that if you believe one part of the Bible you must believe 
all. Some of the thirty- nine books may be inspired, others not: or there may be 
degrees of inspiration. 

"The Bible may be wrong in some statements. God and right cannot be wrong. 
We must not exalt the bible above God. It may be that we have claimed 
too much for the Bible, and thereby given not a little occasion for such men as 
Ingersoll to appear at the other extreme, denying too much. 

"We mast take a middle ground. It is not necessary to believe that the bears 
devoured the forty-two children, nor that Jonah was swallowed by the whale." 

Kev. Doctor Koliler said: 

"I will not make futile attempts of artificially interpreting the letter of the Bible 
so as to make it reflect the philosophical, moral and scientific views of our time. 
The Bible is a sacred record of humanity's childhood. 

''Orthodoxy, with its face turned backward to a ruined temple or a dead Messiah, 
is fast becoming like Lot's wife, a pillar of salt. 

"I greatly acknowledge our indebtedness to men like Voltaire and Thomas Paine, 
whose bold denial and cutting wit were so instrumental in bringing about this 
glorious era of freedom, so congenial and blissful, particularly to the long abused 
Jewish race. 

"Of course there is a destructive axe needed to strike down the old building in 
order to make room for the grander new. The divine origin claimed by the He- 
brews for their national literature was claimed by all nations for their old records 
and laws as preserved by the priesthood. As Moses, the Hebrew law-giver, is rep- 
resented as having received the law from God on the holy mountain, so is Zoroas- 
ter, the Persian, Manu, the Hindoo, Minos, the Cretan, Lycurgus, the Spartan, and 
Numa, the Roman. 

"All that can and must be said against them is that they have been too long 
retained around the arms and limbs of grown-up manhood to check the spiritual 
progress of religion; that by Jewish ritualism and Christian dogmatism they became 
fetters unto the soul, turning the light of heaven into a misty haze to blind the eye, 
and even into a hell fire of fanaticism to consume souls. 

"True, the Bible is not free from errors, nor is any work of man and time. It 
abounds in childish views and offensive matters. I trust that it will in time not 
far oft' be presented for common use in familie3, schools, synagogues and churches 
in a refined shape, cleansed from all dross and chaff and stumbling-blocks on which, 
the scoffer delights to dwell." 



312 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Rev. Mr. Herford says: 

"Ingersoll is very fond of saying, 'The question is not, is the Bible inspired, but 
is it true?' That sounds very plausible, but you know as applied to any ancient book 
it is simply nonsense. Four thousand years ago polygamy existed among the 
Jews, as everywhere else on earthh then, and even their prophets did not come to 
the idea of its being wrong. But what is there to be indignant about in that?" 

Rev. Professor Sweney says of the Bible, "I think it a poem." 
Rev. Doctor Ryder says: 

"Like other nations, the Hebrews had their patriotic, descriptive, didactic and 
lyrical poems in the same varieties as other nations, whatever may be the form of 
their poetry, it always possesses the characteristic of religion.'' 

Our great grandmother, the Catholic church, claims that: 

It was delegated to the Catholic church to receive, interpret and expound the 
divine constitution on which the entire Christian faith and belief in salvation was 
founded. They were the architects and builders of the Christian theology, select- 
ing and deciding upon the material that should go to make up the Holy Bible. 

They were the sole judges of what was to be God's law to man, and were the 
exclusive arbiters of every amendment, and of every revision of its code. 

ANCIENT SOURCES OF EVIDENCE. 

The Catholics organized the New Testament, and claims the 
Pope to be the vicar of God and infallible, so you can see where 
the infallible part for the book comes from, and why there is so 
much want of harmony in different parts of it. 

The Jews organized the Old Testament, hence they should be 
the best authority as to it. Dr. Aaron Holms, a Jewish Rabbi 
and historian, says: 

"Religion is the consciousness and the adoration of a Supreme Being, and the 
science of things divine and human, 

"The Bible, written by men as every other book, is of human and natural 
origin. It is the product of the religious genius of the Jewish nation of old. 

" God has never spoken to men in any human or vocal language. ' The efficacy 
of the laws of nature the urging force of the truth, of justice, of liberty, of 
beauty, of goodness and generosity, is God's voice, and he who appreciates and 
practices them conscientiously, hears the voice of God, just as loud and distinctly 
and in the same manner as Moses or the prophets of old did. 

" The reason, the conscience, the ideas of truth, of justice, of liberty, of good- 
ness, are called angels. The same are called benefactors, the prophets, the honest 
priests, and the teachers, angels of God. 

" What is Satan? The obstructors to a good cause, and the evil propensities 
of man are called Satan. 

" In our religious life we shall be actuated neither by the expectations of reward, 
nor by the fear of punishment, only the consciousness, the preservation and the 
exhibition of our dignity as men and Israelites ought to be the motive, the higher 
aim, and the sweetest reward, for any of our religious works ever so hard or 
difficult. 



GREAT MEN'S OPINIONS. 313 

" God is the eternal being, the space and the soul of the Universe. Immutable 
and above any resemblance to men, it is the wisdom, the will, the life and might, 
in perfect unity. 

" Between God's and man's attributes there is no equality whatever, on a simi- 
larity of names, therefore is silence recommended as the most becoming praise tc 
God. 

" God cannot do anything; God's might would not be in unity and comformity 
with his wisdom if he could do anything. 

" As God's might is restricted by his wisdom we shall pray only for things that 
are not foolish to ask him, neither shall we expect or believe in miracles. God 
has worked marvelous things, but has never worked miracles. 

"The miracles of the Bible, Talmud, and other books, which are absolutely 
against reason, against historical course and against the natural laws, we may con- 
sider as fables, as tradtions and fictions of the Jews of old. But we may believe in 
them, if they are to be interpreted in a rational or natural way, or if we can sup- 
pose, that they were effected by lost arts, or natural forces unknown to us yet. 

"Judaism can always be reconciled to science for 'knowledge is the main principle 
of Judaism,' the Rabbis never 'refusing to acknowledge facts and real knowledge; 
whenever facts contradicted their traditional or subjective views, they abandoned 
their personal views and tried by any way or mode to make the result of science ac- 
ceptable and to give it in the Bible a point of support/ 

"Illustrious Rabbis have maintained 'The eternity of matter, and variation of 
species,' is taught in the Talmud, as is also the 'rise of life from inorganic mat- 
ter. ' 

"Man's body has no resemblance to God whatever. 

"Man, composed of a body and soul, has to take care of either, and he can do so 
by self-preservation, self-knowledge and self-respect. 

"In general we have these duties towards our fellow-men: First, to be just to- 
wards them; secondly, to respect them; and thirdly, to love them. 

"Ihe golden inscriptions of the code of Moses are, 'one law for you and for the 
foreigners within your gates.' 'Love thy fellowmen as thyself.' Love the for- 
eigner as thyself. 

"Man is from nature pure and good, no 'original sin' and no depravity contami- 
nates him, till his passions and evil propensities and the bad examples and influ- 
ences of his fellowmen stain his character and the purity of his soul. 

Here is a most admirable solution of the question over which many reformers 
have stumbled. Does the end justify the means? 

"Man being able to control bis acts only, but not their consequences, has no right 
to do anything that is wrong in order to attain good ends. According to the teach- 
ings of Judaism, 'good ends do not justify evil means.' " 

The third item of this brief summary of the Rabbies, in relation 
to the voice of God, is worth your study; it arouses the Godlike 
spark in eveiy man's nature, which only needs the nourishment of 
faithful harmonious culture as a free, moral agent to develop it 
into true manhood, before God and man, but he cannot do this and 
submit his own manhood, and cringe and bow in submission to other 
men's foolish creeds and dogmas. A story of Lyman Beecher is 
to the point by H. W., he says: 



314 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

There are thousands of things as presented that men may not believe and yet be 
not only innocent but in some respects praiseworthy. There are thing's stated in 
ways which if a man believe them I am sorry for him. I have heard the sovere- 
ignty of Ged presented in a way that if a man accepted it he ought to be damned. 
I recollect during a revival a minister talking with a young woman convert said to 
her, 'Madame, are you willing to be damned for the glory of God?' She was some- 
what startled, it had not occurred to her in that way before. And my father, who 
was sitting in the pew behind her, said to him, 'What are you asking that woman? 7 

" 'Whether she is willing to be damned for the glory of God/ was the reply. 

" 'Would you sir?' said my father. 

" 'I hope so,' was the reply. 

" 'Then you ought to be damned/ said my father. 

"There are many of the dogmas that I abhor; they are miserable, detestable and 
damnable. I believe in the sovereignty of God, not the imperial sovereignty as of 
kings, but the true sovereignity of love. They are a great many men who think 
that they are not believers in Christianity, but they are; they may not believe in 
the Christianity of the churchmen, but in God's definition of it they are believers. 
Many and many a man thinks himself an infidel who is no more an infidel than I 
am, for I am called infidel because I don't believe in things that he calls religion. 
The direst and worst argument for infidelity is the church at large. We rail at 
Voltaire, but he was more nearly Christian than the priests and teachers about 
him, and there have been periods of the world when infidelity was a great deal 
more Christian than belief was. At present the church is full of men who have 
let go of the old beliefs; this church is full of them. I am full of this opinion, and 
all the churches are full of it. Men are letting go a great many things, but they 
are not vital things — they are instruments. It is better to be called an infidel and 
train with God than to be called orthodox and train with the devil. Christianity 
is a living thing. There is no Christianity in books, creeds or catechisms; it is in 
the hearts of men . It is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and thy 
neighbor as thyself." 

Don't crawl before the dignitaries of heaven. I never crawl on my belly before 
God j I never say I am so filthy and sinful; I am not so. We are all sinners, but 
not criminals. I have no remorse because I do not love God enough. I don't love 
anybody as I ought. God is not a crabbed judge to say when he has heard a con- 
fession, "Open the prison door and shove him in." I go before God as a noble- 
man, and say, "Nevertheless, I am Thy son." He has the best clothes brought 
out and the ring put on my finger. The true theory of life is to rejoice always. 

'* I believe that all true religion consists in the heart and the affections, and 
that, therefore, all creeds and confessions are fallible and uncertain evidences of 
evangelical piety. 

Iowa State Register says Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott, the successor of Henery Ward 
Beecher, startled his Plymouth church congregation last Sunday by vigorously 
expressed disbelief in eternal damnation. He boldly charged that the spirit of 
traditionalism, fostered by the Princeton Seminary and other church influences, 
is the breeder of schism and division and the mother of skepticism, and that tradi- 
tionalism engenders hypocrisy, because it drives men from the church if they do 
not believe, thereby depriving the church of some of its best and noblest men. Dr. 
Abbott believes in a progressive Bible religion, not in creeds that have been handed 
down through tbe traditions, prejudices and persecutions of past ages, as shown 
in this strong indictment of traditionalism in his last Sunday's sermon. 



FOLLOWING THE MINISTER. 315 

I indict this spirit of traditionalism because it is the mother of skepticism. 
While it pretends to defend the faith it is destroying- the faith, and it is destroy- 
ing the faith because it is demanding that men shall believe, not the great truths 
of religion, but the traditional addenda that have gathered about the great truths 
of religion. Faith is faith in God not in a creed. Faith is faith in Christ not in a 
Westminster divine. Faith is faith in the life that is revealed in the Bible, not 
in the teaching of the nineteenth century concerning the teaching of the sixteenth 
century about the Bible. 

The Bible is a sufficient guide for intelligent people. All barbarisms, supersti- 
tions, traditions and prejudices should be eliminated from all church creeds and 
regulations in order that they may be made stronger and more effective in every 
good work. 

DANIEL WEBSTER. 

"Finally, I believe that Christ has imposed on all his disciples a life of active 
benevolence ; that he who refrains only from what he thinks to be sinful has per- 
formed but a part and a small part of his duty; that he is bound to do good and 
communicate, and to love his neighbor, to give food and drink to his enemy, and 
to endeavor, so far as in him lies, to promote peace, truth, piety and happiness in 
a wicked and forlorn world, believing that in the great day which is to come there 
will be no other standard of merit, no other criterion of character than that which 
is already established. 

"By their fruits ye shall know them." 

FOLLOWING THE MINISTER AS HE WOULD A FUNERAL. 

Our good brother Col. P. Gad Bryan, said in making an argu- 
ment for more social pleasures in the churches as well as outside 
that, u In modern times the observance of days; Of festivity has, to 
a great extent, gore out of use. Our own country has only one 
holiday peculiar to itself. The sour religion of our Puritan fore- 
fathers, like that of the Roundheads, in its teaching and tenden. 
cies, was opposed to holiday amusements and festivities. There 
was a peculiar bias in their piety, which would have repealed the 
law of nature that allowed the ant and the bee to work on Sunday, 
as being opposed to grace, and at the same time believe it right to 
torture and put to a disgraceful and cruel death a woman because 
she was old and wrinkled and poor and endowed with second sight, 
or because she was young and beautiful, and of delicate, nervous 
organization, and heard whisperings and caught glimpses and 
impressions of another world. The fanaticism that could at the 
same time sing a psalm and cut a throat, would necessarily enter 
its protest against all amusements as ungodly." 

If we could only remove those ideas inherited from past ages, 
which makes some men go through the world like it was a funeral 
procession, when a kind word or act with a cheerful face, would 
make others happy, with frequent holidays to promote social 



316 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

brotherly feelings, and a natural, common sense, intellectual feast 
for the Sabbath that would attract the masses where they could be 
taught those things pertaining to their physical and mental wants 
in harmony with the moral necessities, then the world would get 
rid of the evil of intemperance in many things. 

There is about as much intemperance among professedly good 
people on the question of amusements as on doctrines. They will 
say hard things about anyone going to shows or theatres, as though 
there was no difference in the grades of them; when, in fact, they 
vary about as much as church members in quality. 

A high toned moral theater is an educator far above many ser- 
mons. So are circuses of that grade, of which we have just had a 
sample, August 5, 1892, showing some of the finest trained animals 
and men, doing things calculated to make me say: u Who created 
such beings and laws that make it possible to cultivate up to such 
a point? O God, Thou ar«t the author." Seek only the best, never 
waste time or money on others. 

Tho 1 a ''little consense bow and then 
Is relished by the wisest of men." 

On the theological points you will enjoy the following from my 
old friend, Alexander Burns, D. D. 

The Chicago Tribune says: Dr. Thomas received among other letters yesterday 
one from Dr. Burns, a minister of the Methodist Church of Canada. He was Vice- 
President of the Iowa Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, when Dr. 
Thomas was pastor of the church at that place, and was with him a member of the 
Iowa Conference. Later he was President of the Simpson Centenary College, in 
Iowa, and some three years ago received a call to Grace Methodist church of this 
city. At present Dr. Burns is Governor and Principal of the Wesleyan Female 
Seminary at Hamilton, Ont. The following is the letter: 

"Wesleyan Female College, Hamilton, Ont., Sept 3, 1881.— Dear Mr. 
Thomas: Although driven almost to death by the pressure of opening college this 
week, I cannot refrain from saying to you, Courage, courage, my dear old friend. 
You are certainly emphatically right in your position regarding the inspiration of 
the Scriptures. More, I do not know a well-read, scholarly minister on this side 
that does not hold your views. 

"It is the very quintessence of absurdity to consider all parts of the book called 
the Bible of equal authority. Where is the scholarly man that does so? I could 
quote names— the highest in the Church — whom I have heard express themselves 
on the question. Several of the greatest of the reformers laughed at the idea. 
Calvin forbade the German divines reading the Revelation. He certainly was or- 
thodox enousrh. Luther considered the epistle of James 'a right strawy epistle.' 
Dr. Adam Clark thought, the 'Sonars of Solomon' an epithalamium, or marriage 
song, composed for Solomon's marriage. The Roman Empira was converted to 
Christianity before the Second or Third of John, the Second of Peter, the Hebrews, 
or the Revelation, or Jude was received into the Canon. It is our own absolute 
stuoidir.y that has saddled us with such a notion as the equal, and complete, and 
verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. I don't know a man unless a tenth or twen- 
tieth rate man who believes it I could put Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church on the stand, and, if they will testify, they will agree with me. 



FOLLOWING THE MINISTER. 317 

"As to the doctrine of the atonement I know of no scholarly minister that holds 
to the old idea — that the Father had to be pacified, reconciled, or bought over to a 
merciful attitude towards the sinner. 'God was in Christ reconciling- the world to 
himself.' In other words Christ came to show humanity the love of God. I need 
not enlarge here. I have conversed at great length with very prominent men — the 
President of our university here, and the best preachers, and I have myself preached 
against the substitution theory before them, only to be commended by them for my 
views. The substitution theory is dead, and almost buried. It were well for our 
theological atmosphere if it were buried. I don't know a thinking minister to-day 
who considers the doctrine of eternal conscious torment as an essential doctrine. I 
myself preach that it is not. I have changed my views very materially on this last 
question. 

"If I were not so tied down I would rush to your side this week. I am satisfied 
that you are right, and that it is a matter of a very few years when our church 
and all other living churches will be preaching as you do. I have heard multi- 
tudes speak of your case, and they generally sympathized with your views. 

"I can't expect to have a letter from you in your great hurry, but I hope that 
these few hurried lines will stiffen your theological vertebras. I wish you owned 
a body equal to your head and heart. 

"With much love from an old and unceasingly attached friend. A. Burns." 

In conclusion of this, my rather long plea for liberty of thought 
in the churches, my reason is the case is so important a one, and 
long, faithful, earnest investigation for the truth, and a conscious- 
ness as before God of the correctness of my position affords the 
moral courage to strike at the root of the errors. For if all 
doctrines, articles of faith, creeds and disciplines — with these 
contradictions so often among the six hundred — are to have for 
their foundation a revelation direct from God or by an authorized 
agency, it should be so harmonious with natural laws and itself, 
that it would be so plain, common sense and evident that "The 
wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein." There is 
proof and example for slavery in it, also for war and bloodshed, 
and "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," the slaying of 
women and children also, besides the proof and example for the 
wine bibler that needs to be stopped, both in the church and out of 
it; also polygamy, and some say proof that the soul will sleep for 
ages and that the world is growing worse and worse and was to 
have come to an end in 1881. 

If you think all these things are right, it is your privilege, with 
free agency and a free country, and I won't call you totally de- 
praved, because you may have some good quality. We are each 
our brother's keeper in a proper sense, also influenced by our 
surroundings, but we are not bound to "do as Rome does," if she 
does not do right. Self government is the true idea in this coun- 
try, and we do not propose to farm out to another, the thinking 
that we can just as well do for ourselves. Hence the " new wine" 
of progressive thought will have to be put in new bottles, unless 
the old ones are more elastic and better material than the old, old 



§18 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

fashioned crisped leather ones, that are so tightly corked, yet fer- 
menting so they are ready to burst — if not already cracked — and 
lose much that is valuable, with that which is not good. 

But what the author wants to see is a few of the best of the pro- 
gressive churches that have done good to drop off the untenable 
dogmas, that are only stumbling blocks to thinking men that are 
not in the ruts on the subject. Then they will be able to take in 
all the other churches in time, and make the tax lighter for church 
purposes and pay more for a better class of instructors, and more 
for the poor and needy, sick and afflicted, widows and orphans, 
and those that go astray in sin, to bring them back like u the lost 
sheep." If you can't or won't do it because its right, do it for 
Christ's sake, remembering inasmuch as ye did it to one of these 
children ye did it unto me. Kem ember also that Christ said, when 
ready to leave, the things I do ye shall do, and greater things for I 
go to my Father. And then improve in all that is good and known 
to be in harmony with scientific truths as developed on God's 
natural laws to love good works. And then we will have our re- 
ligion on a basis that will command the respect of God, and 
develop manhood, then with culture for all will bring harmony 
that will open the heavenly gates here and hereafter. God pity 
the back sliders and those who refuse to go forward. I like Long- 
fellow's creed: 

My work is finished ; I am strong 
In faith and hope and charity; 
For I have written the things I see. 
The things that have been and shall be 
Conscience of right nor fearing wrong; 
Because 1 am in love with love, 
And the sole thing I hate is hate; 
For hate is death; and love is life, 
A peace, a splendor from above; 
And hate a never-ending strife, 
A smoke, a blackness from the abyss 
Where unclean serpents coil and hiss! 
Love is the Holy Ghost within: 
Hate the unpardonable sin! 
Who preaches otherwise than this 
Betrays his master with a kiss. 

FIAT VS. RELIGION ON A BASIS. 

A little theology as well as nonsense,, now and then 
Is relished by the wisest men. 
Please allow a layman a few remarks on the difference between fiat and practical 
religion. 



FIAT vs. RELIGION. 319 

In "A Sermon 1 ' in the Herald of the 25th inst, by the Rev. Pastor of the Pres- 
byterian church, he takes the Rev. Dr. Thomas, of Chicago, to task for suggesting' 
that "The atonement is no such thing, that a murderer can send his victim to hell 
forever, and he turn around and walk into heaven." and thinks it is "hard and 
cruel" for Dr. Thomas that "common Christian belief as held by orthodox churches 
on this subject is not true. It may be hard and cruel on creeds and disciples and 
their fiat religious teachings on this subject, but is it not hard and cruel to teach 
that intelligent men and women that are doing good, yet do no believe in the 
"Orthodox" plan of salvation, and who die, perhaps by some fiendish hand, in this 
condition are sent directly to an eternal hell? And this is the true spirit of much 
of the teaching. Bat when they begin to doubt and weaken on this point, they 
say, "shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" We say yes, and it is a good 
reason why the above cannot be true. 

But our pastoral brother straightens up again and says there certainly has been 
a change in the general Christian belief. This change is not in regard to the gen- 
eral principle on which men and women are saved. The change he now admits is 
that all infants and imbeciles are to have a home in the good world. This cer- 
tainly is good news and an improvement on Calvinism. He thinks possibly God, 
in his mercy, may save some outside of the church who believe in Christ. 

Now this is liberal, but he winds up with the idea that when man dies or is 
killed, "his case is made up." Then I suppose he must go down in that pit to all 
eternity, or with Watts, "We will sit and sing ourselves away to everlasting bliss." 
This certainly is not a very comforting doctrine, and not in harmony with the bet- 
ter judgment of intelligent unbiased men in this nineteenth century. 

Say not thou what is the cause that the former days were better than these, for 
thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. — Eccl. 7:10. 

Then let us live in the present under God's universal laws and judge the future 
by the present light and progressive knowledge, and learn that mankind must suf- 
fer here and hereafter, just in proportion to how much he violates those universal 
laws, whether that be physically, mentally, or morally, knowing that there is and 
must be harmony in nature everywhere if there is peace and happiness for those 
who do good or live in harmony with those laws. We know that man may pro- 
gress here in every way, and by reasonable analogy say that he can do the same 
hereafter, or we may sigh, fret, complain, go backwards or downwards here; and 
it is reported by good authority that one-third of the angels in heaven did the same 
thing at one time. This would probably arouse a presumption in the minds of 
some that they do not sit and sing themselves away to everlasting bliss even 
though they were strictly "Orthodox" while here. Eternal life and activity must 
be the motto here and hereafter. Who is the happiest man here? The man who 
comes nearest doing his whole duty toward himself, his fellow beings and his God; 
so it will be hereafter, in harmony with God's natural laws. Tne man that is 
teaching doctrines and traditions brought up to us and not in harmony with nat- 
ural laws, can not be truly happy here or hereafter until he outgrows them. 

Christ comlorteth his disciples. — John 14:12— Verily, Verily, I say unto you, he 
that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than 
these shall he do because I go to My Father. 

Are you his disciple? I trust that you are in the sense here indicated. We may 
all be saviors then just to the extent that we save men from their low perverted 
conditions. Swing, Thomas, and many others are using "grand words" and influ- 
ences, mentally and morally at least, since they have got out of the ruts, toward 
lifting men out of their superstitious notions. 



320 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Christ was a great savior in these respects, and more, for He worked for man 
physically, saving him from disease and pain and sorrow. Is He not probably 
still doing so? I think he is. And it may be your privilege always to do so; yea, 
more. 

There are three plans of salvation taught in the Bible: Faith, baptism and 
good works; all are useful, if rightly used but the latter has the strongest proof in 
the Bible, in natural and in personal experience. Then let us leave behind the 
fiats of popery and have a practical religion that is within the bounds of reason. 
Then we may hope for the final salvation of at least a few of those who were not 
called strictly "Orthodox," such as Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and others, 
who have worked for the freedom of the nation in word, thought, and deed. And 
now that superstitious notions are giving away so generally, let us all cultivate 
physically, mentally and morally, in harmony at home and abroad and find heaven 
a condition not far off. 

"I wish that friends were always true, 

And motives always pure; 
I wish the good were not so few, 

I wish the bad were fewer. 
I wish that parsons ne'er forgot 

To heed their pious teachings; 
I wish that practicing was not 

So different from teaching. 1 ' 

RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 

"Wide as the world is God's command 

Vast as eternity his love. 
0, that the world might taste and see 

The riches of His grace; 
The arms of love that compass me 

Would all mankind embrace." 

GOD. 

By analogy we reason from what we know of finite man and his 
capability of controlling the elements of nature to a limited degree, 
and with growing capabilities to understand them better, having 
dived down into the "mysteries of Godliness" and grappled with the 
problems of the universe. We then each with our varied capacities 
conceive an idea of what the great first cause of all things must be 
who has developed in the process of time, though it may have been 
myriads of years. Such a vast concourse of living, moving bodies 
of such a vast size as the starry realms have proved to contain with 
their retinue of living, moving, visible animal life from the least 
possible plant and insect up through all the varied grades step by 
step to the stately oak and immortal man with all their fruits. What 
must be the great source of all this life force, in knowledge, good- 
ness, greatness, purity, love and wisdom. We intuitively say God, 



HOLY GHOST. 321 

Jehova or the great 7" am of whom we can know but little even 
from the great source of nature! Who by searching can find out 
God, "Whom no man hath seen nor can see." I Tim. vi-16. "No 
man hath seen God at any time." John i— 18. "Ye have neither 
heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape." John v-27. Again 
it is said no man can see his face andiive. This indicates that this 
great life force "is without body or parts" or so progressive that 
man never will attain unto the height. So the beacon "stars" will 
be drawing man on up througli vast eternity to greater depths and 
heights of love and wisdom. Such a God we delight to adore. 

HOLY GHOST. 

The author will claim Holy Ghost to mean, Holy, to be good, 
Ghost to be law or good law under which the universe and all that 
is good therein has been developed, hence the Mother of all. The 
beautiful, harmonious, graceful loving Queen of Heaven and all 
the realms of unlimited space. The true co-equal companion of 
the great 1 am of the universe. 

\The unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost is in violating those 
Good Laws, by such a sin against the physical, mental or moral 
man as will leave a scar that time will not erase. Then with what 
avidity should we seek a knowledge of natural law, so that we may 
always be in loving harmony with our God Mother. Thus eventualy 
do our whole duty to self and every fellow being. This will fill us 
with the Hoty Ghost or law of love for the supreme source. 

We cannot conceive the beginning of these originators, or that 
one could exist without the other any more than comprehend mak- 
ing something out of nothing. In our mundane sphere we should 
say these things were impossible; but when we leave this tenement 
of clay and live in more refined elements, which may be more and 
more refined at every progressive stage of life in the great future, then 
we may comprehend more of the origin of things, but the time will 
never come in vast eternity when you and I will not have more to 
learn; though you possess spirituality in its highest degrees of in- 
tuitive nature in affection, thought and volition, and all the attri- 
butes of personality to investigate the unlimited and hence infinite 
realm of spirituality, which involves the idea which we would con- 
vey by the term God and the infinite series of degrees. 

"Thou apart, 
Above beyond; 0, tell me mighty mind, 
Where art thou? Shall 1 dive into the deep? 
Call to the sun, or ask the roaming winds 
21 



322 [PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

For their Creator? Shall I question loud 
The thunder, if in that the Almighty dwells; 
Or holds the furious storms in straightened reins. 
And bids fierce whirlwinds wheel his rapid car? 
The nameless He! whose nod is Nature's birth, 
And Nature's shield the shadow of his hand. 
Her dissolution, his suspended smile, 
The great First Last pavilioned high he sits 
In darkness from excessive splendor borne, 
By gods unseen, unless through luster lost. 
His glory to created glory, bright, 
As that to eternal horrors; he looks down 
On all that soars and spans immensity. 7 ' 

CHRIST. 

The holy Nazarene no doubt was the son of God in the same 
sense you and I are, if we are seeking that which is pure, high and 
holy, and notwithstanding the love and wily conduct of the high 
priest, ©r the fabled account of his origin. Christ come in all re- 
spects, under natural law principles, and he — and probably his 
mother — as pure and innocent as angels born now-a-days. Those 
in high authority those days used mechanism and were very pre- 
sumptuous, while the people were ignorant and credulous. From 
the account of Christ's infancy in the Apocryphal new testament, 
it would seem he was a "survival of the fittest;" yet gave his 
mother some trouble in his leadership among the boys, by using 
his magnetic powers and strong will in too forcible a manner, for 
their comfort or peace among the neighbors. 

All this before he was twelve years old, at which time we find 
him disputing with the doctors in the temple at Jerusalem. The 
New Testament gives no account of his life from this time till he 
is thirty years old, yet, while there is but little on the subject in 
history, I am fully persuaded in my own mind, that one of these 
doctors who appeared to be incensed at Jesus in the temple disput- 
ing, was the high priest spoken of in chapters eight and nine of the 
Protevangelion, Apocryphal Testament, that was fearful lest Mary, 
who " received her food from the hand of an angel," at twelve 
years old in the holy temple, might defile it; and at fourteen years 
of age gave her u the true purple" to spin for "a veil for the tem- 
ple." Now this said high priest was so impressed with the intelli- 
gence of the boy Jesus that soon after he was found in the temple, 
"in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them 
questions," the high priest secured him privately in a school, where 
it would not be known by the people or authorities, where he 



THE BIBLE. 323 

remained till he was about thirty years old, and then came forth 
and was made a high priest " after the order of Melchisedec;" then 
showed his faith by his works, in healing the sick, doing some 
things called miracles, upbraiding sinners in high places, encourag- 
ing the weak and lowly, and teaching them all to do as they would 
wish to be done by. Truly a golden rule, that showed him a posi- 
tive character, while the same thing had been taught in a negative 
form by philosophers five hundred years before that time, indicat- 
ing some progress. On this foundation he taught an improved 
code of morals, that was grand, yet was incumbered by his follow- 
ers with many things which suits many people to build creeds 
upon, which impede progress. 

Notwithstanding these things his influence spread abroad and he 
became the greatest of Saviors; still when he healed the lame 
man, spoke of it as casting out his sins, which no doubt came of 
violating some natural law. You, reader, may become a savior to 
the extent of your ability and Influence among men. Eemember- 
ing that Jesus said when about to leave his followers, St. John 
xiv, 12, u Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me 
the works that 1 do shall he do also, and greater works than these 
shall he do, because I go unto my Father." Every living being 
that can reason seems to possess, as it were, a spark of the great I 
Am; each inheriting in varied degrees, which may be cultivated 
to any degree in harmony with his conditions and sphere under 
natural law, till he will become too divine to live or enjoy life in 
so low or mundane a sphere as we live in. When so much in 
advance of his fellow beings are looked upon with a jealous eye 
and persecuted till they give up this life for their principles, Christ- 
like. 

THE BIBLE THE OBJECT THE INSPIRATION. 

There are many grand truths both in and out of Scripture which 
are worth more than their weight in gold, and seem to bear divine 
impress, but the writer fails to find any evidence of plenary inspira- 
tion or harmony that would indicate anything of the kind; in many 
cases they lack harmony with the beautiful God- given natural laws; 
they rather bear the impress of a historical character, and tem- 
pered with special kinds of inspiration peculiar to the various 
writers, with special reference to the object to be attained; some of 
them very lofty and holy, and others not far-reaching enough to be 
of use in our day, for any purpose other than as history, showing 
the degree of vileness man had reached in those days and how it 



£24 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

was charged to God as being the cause of it; this history does not 
stand unsupported and alone, but is corroborated by other history. 
There is a large class of ministers to-day who claim to be "inspired 
to preach the gospel," and no doubt it is the same kind of inspira- 
tion under which the best part of the Bible was written; some of 
them may be superior to its authors, but do not claim perfection in 
themselves or for the book, while others with little knowledge or 
moral courage do; the former class of men have recently made 
many changes, which does not indicate perfection, and> no doubt, 
'ere long more changes will be made and our code of morals 
improved. .Perfect things cannot be improved; imperfect, living 
things do improve. We hope to see more golden rules added to 
the Bible and put in practical use as time passes. One of them 
might be : No parent should do anything wrong or not best for 
the children to do under like circumstances; another: Develop 
mentally, morally and physically, so as to become God-like. 

HEAVEN AND HELL. 

(I think you have not located them yet.) They are condi- 
tions wherever you may be. Pleasure comes by living con- 
stantly in harmony with physical and moral laws, and making 
advancement, while if you violate these laws or retrograde you 
will feel more or less of the power of hell, and it may increase on 
you here and hereafter if you do not change your course, which 
you can do at any time while there is a spark of manhood left. 
But the sooner the change for the better is made the better, for 
every sin against these natural laws brings the penalty with it on 
the physical, moral, or mental, and when the acute pain is gone, if 
ever, the scar will remain, and mar your pleasure with this hideous 
feature and twitting reminders in mind in the great future. You 
may make a slight wound "with your little hatchet," or the ax, in 
a tree and it may grow over, but the scar will be there, larger or 
smaller, in accordance with the cirsumstances and injury. So you 
may expect in the future, as sure as the mind is the man, if you 
violate those moral laws. ' ' Turn ye, turn ye, " why will you suffer? 

PROBATION. 

Probation will last while the mind lasts, but this is no reason 
why you should procrastinate, turning away from sin and their 
terrible results, wherein you become more hardened each day, 
year, or century, as time rolls on in the great future, making your 
punishment terrible, when the light of truth is but reflected on 



MAKE PROGRESS NOW. 325 

your mind. An angelic mother or father may be the savior, reflect- 
ing the light of love, truth and knowledge on you. 

MAKE PROGRESS NOW. 

Can you bear the thought of causing them and all your friends to 
suffer on your account when you know your duty and do it not? 
You can not even respect yourself, a thing of the first importance, 
to enable you to look up without fear or trembling, even in God's 
sunlight in this world. How do you imagine, now, you would feel 
mingling promiscuously in a more pure, refined sphere of action 
in the future with the effulgent light you conceive of a more Godly 
kingdom? Then set your mind on following the great beacon star 
of purity and duty to self, country and God, for you will find 
death-bed repentance will not materially change your nature, 
habits, or welcome into good society in that debatable land, that 
we reason by analogy to be an improvement on this, at least in 
quality, but under the same law and Ruler as we now are, so far as 
the laws apply to the varied conditions. Hence you may find your 
change in the transit may not be as great as you have imagined 
and will be still free moral agents and may rise and make progress 
or fall like u His Satanic Magesty" and ' 'third part of the angels," 
as reported, but may rise again notwithstanding your doctrine. Mr. 
J. L. McCrery says: 

"There is no death! the stars go down, 

To rise upon some fairer shore; 
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown 

They shine for evermore. 

"There is no death! the dust we tread, 

Shall change beneath the summer flowers, 
To golden grain, or mellow fruit, 

Or rainbow-tinted flowers. 

"The granite rocks disorganize 

To feed the hungry moss they bear; 
The forest leaves drink daily life 

From out the viewless air. 

"There is no death ! the leaves may fall, 
The flowers may fade and pass away; 
They only wait, through wintry hours, 
The coming of the May. 

"There is no death! an angel form 

Walks o'er the earth with silent tread; 
He bears our best-loved things away — 

And then we call them, 'dead!' 



326 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

"He leaves our hearts all desolate; 

He plucks our fairest, sweetest flowers; 
Transplanted into bliss, they now 

Adorn immortal bowers. 

"For where he sees a smile too bright, 

Or heart too pure for taint of vice, 
He bears it to that world of light 

To dwell in Paradise. 

"The bird-like voice whose joyous tones 

Made glad this scene of sin and strife, 
Sings now her everlasting song 

Amid the Tree of Life. 

"Though past beyond our tear- dimmed sight, 

'Tis but a larger life to gain; 
We feel their presence oft — the same, 

Except in sin and pain. 

"And ever near us, though unseen, 

The dear, immortal spirits tread; 
For all the boundless universe 

Is life: there is no dead!" 

ANGELS. 

Angels are messengers of mercy, love and kindness, occasion- 
ally manifest in reproof, whether in this world or other spheres of 
life. 

"O, ye of little faith," says the selfish bigot with so much faith 
that he thinks Christ has and will do it all, and never extends a 
helping hand, unless it is to be seen and known of men; this is that 
other kind of angels that we read of. 

If you want to be Angelic, show your faith more by your works, 
than your pretentions. Then the poor and needy, sick and 
afflicted, widows and orphants, down-trodden and "heart-broken' 
ones will rise to bless you, "for of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
Such persons, young or old, will finally drop off this mortal coil, 
or coarser tenement and rise to a higher and purer life, and there 
continue their good work in helping the lowly to a higher life, and 
thus be angels there. Oh, where? say you. It is where angels are 
"ascending and decending," any where in God's universe that his 
conditions under law will permit, and that owing altogether to the 
advance made in becoming more God like. It may be in mid air 
on invisible plains to mortal eyes, it may be on this or some other 
planet, where we may meet others from millions of worlds, and 
study each others good, and become stronger and happier by do- 
ing missionary work in going among the dark benighted heathen, 



THE SABBATH. 327 

wherever they are found in the realms of God's kingdom, then why 
not sing now: 

" I want to be an angel 

And with the angels stand," 

But let your crown be the fruits of a good life and work, thus 
you will honor God, and fill your cup to the brim of the pure 
waters of eternal life on which to live and grow forever. 

We all no doubt would wish we had ground to hope that all dis- 
embodied spirits would take the upward grade but our experience 
here does not warrant us in entertaining such a hope, yet as long 
as there is a mind or spark of good in you capable of reasoning and 
suffering, there are grounds to hope for a reform, but if there is a 
point in the future beyond this condition where the last God like 
spark dies out and there is nothing but the ashes left (what could 
be more horrible to think of ?) But the idea of torturing your child 
or companion in the commonly taught hell through myriads of 
ages. Man only aims to punish according to the crime committed 
and frequently only to restrain from other wrongs, leaving the per- 
sons mind free to the pangs of natural laws. You should not make 
your God out worse than inferior beings who are sometimes bad 
enough to burn men at the stake for improving, as in Servetes case 
and many others. I don't understand that angels are perfect or a 
third part would hardly have fallen from Heaven besides many 
supposed to be in our midst. You may be genuine angels of mercy 
and still fall away or float down stream. But with your spark of 
God kept shining you may reach the highest spheres. 

THE SABBATH. 

Sunday is held sacred by the Christians, Monday by the Greeks, 
Tuesday by the Persians, Wednesday by Assyrians, Thursday by 
the Egyptians, Friday by the Turks, and Saturday by the Jews. 
So you see every day of the week is a Sabbath to somebody. I 
would suggest that you make it a reason, if you have no other, for 
being good every day of the week. 

The Sabbath, if kept uniformly in any country or nation is a 
grand, useful day, but is much abused at each extreme in this coun- 
try; first by those who hold the day too sacred to do good works 
and teach credulity in the creeds of men; second, by those who 
spend the time in the beer garden in drunken revelry, and in the 
drugstore whisky shops and gambling holes and dens of prostitu- 
tion. Nature, in the order of things, calls for such day, for puri- 
fication and rest and revival of activity. You should not neglect 



328 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

to assemble yourselves together in the manner of worship, to be 
taught and encouraged by the sermons and lectures of wiser heads, 
and consult and counsel each other as to what is best for the eleva- 
tion of mankind; also to look after the poor, the needy, the dis- 
tressed and the afflicted, and supply wants and relieve distress 
wherever possible. 

GOD WANTS US ALL. 

God wants the boys, the merry, merry boys, 
The noisy boys, the funny boys, 

The thoughtless boys; 
God wants the boys with all their joys, 
That He as gold may make them pure, 
And teach them trials to endure. 
His heroes brave 

He'll have them be 
Fighting for truth 
And purity. 

God wants the boys. 

God wants the happy-hearted girls, 
The loving girls, the best of girls, 

The worst of girls; 
God wants to make the girls his pearls, 
And so reflect His holy face, 
And bring them to His wondrous grace. 
That beautiful 
I The world may be, 

And filled with love 
And purity. 

God wants the girls. 

— Selected. 

SCIENCE OF THE SOUL. 

.Man's absolute knowledge is exceedingly limited in many things, 
especially when we undertake to climb the hill of science in 
mental thought. 

Is it possible by searching to find out God ? 

We think it is possible to find out good. 

It is our duty to seek for both. 

Love of truth frequently requires us to read between the lines. 

In this sphere of thought we must not take the traditions of men 
only, so far as they harmonize with what we call the natural 
laws of God. 

Which is the grandest revelation vouchsafed to man ? 

So that a mental philosophy, based on the science of mind — so 
well established — is the solidest foundation on which to build a 
common sense structure of the soul. 



SCIENCE OF THE SOUL. 329 

Soul is defined as the " immaterial " and spiritual principle in 
man, which survives the death of the body. 

We are unable to separate the soul from the mind, and we cer- 
tainly do not wish to do so. The brain is only the medium through 
which the mind acts on a large developing blank book. 

The soul u was created" in the image of God, or rather is a 
spark of Himself. 

The mind, the instrument or active working forces, are the 
medium in man calculated to use the physical machinery, with 
many and wonderful functions, thus leaving man a self-poised, 
relatively independant being to work out and develop his own 
individuality. 

We are said to be created in the image of God. You will hardly 
claim that it is physically. Oh, no, you say, God is a spirit, every- 
where present. 

Then if it is true we are created in the image of God, it must be 
in soul and spirit. When this is known to be true, we then have 
the science of the soul. Who doubts it. 

Then I think I may take it for granted that man's first concep- 
tion of a soul and immortality come to him intuitively. As the 
organization of man's mind, with special faculties for all the wants 
of humanity, craves immortality, as surely as the noble, pure, lov- 
ing woman craves offspring. 

But that Godly spark, vouchsafed to mankind through natural 
laws has been transmitted, cultivated and illuminated through the 
knowledge of higher natural laws, with their finer qualities and 
uses, which makes man able to reason from what lie knows up to 
higher stages of existence. 

Then the science of the soul may be shown by its immortality 
and powers manifest through the mind, to do things that illiterate 
and superstitious people would call miracles. Soul power, to 
develop the mind, when cultivated, shows itself to be scientifically 

wonderful. 

That goodly spark developed 
Seems to become will power. 

As was recently manifested at Des Moines by a little woman that 
only weighed about one hundred pounds, as Dr. J. C. Clark tells 
me. When she willed to do so she could stand straight on glass, 
or otherwise, and no man could lift her up. Then she could lift 
five or six men sitting on each other on one chair by taking hold 
of the bottom of the back legs of the chair as high as her head, and 
not manifest any strain of muscle or show the least sign of effort. 



330 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

She could not explain it, claimed it required no effort only the ex- 
ercise of her will, but proved that she had such power to the satis- 
faction of a congregation of men investigating. 

I humbly believe it is soul power developed in an unusual degree 
naturally under law by certain cross in parentage and conditions at 
the time, a little in advance of present knowledge of God's laws 
without any special providence. We have seen and heard of such 
things in less degree and called miracles. Many things are mirac- 
ulous to us for want of knowledge, yet this God-like natural power 
seems J;o be the key. "He spake and it was done. He commanded 
and it stood fast." One of authority said, "The things I do ye 
shall do and greater things." So if this is true, you should, Christ- 
like, develop your soul science and powers to do great things. 

"Soft roll your incense, herbs, fruits, and flowers, 

In mingled clouds to Him whose sun exalts, 

Whose breath perfumes you and whose pencil paints. 

Quality, other things being equal, always gives the greatest power. 
So size, other things being equal, is the great power. The one you 
worship most "Thought it not robbery to make himself equal with 
God." Our "elder brother showed the science of the soul in his 
acts, passing through where the doors were shut, healing the sick 
and doing 'many mighty works.' " 

Our ability to use the machinery through which the mind acts 
proves the existence of a soul, something akin to God and his 
mighty works that we stand in awe before. The more we cultivate 
all good qualities the greater the awe and reverence. 

EVIDENCE OF SOUL SCIENCE IN IMMORTALITY. 

If we are cumbered with a coarse tenement for a time, we should 
try and find out whether there is immortality for us or not. 

There are many ancient theories about it, principally based or ~ 
said to be communications with higher spheres of life. 

Perhaps the natural laws between us and higher spheres should 
make it plain to us where the qualities and conditions are attained 
to. Tens of thousands of people claim they know it to be true by 
practical tests and experience. Many claim this to be the source 
of the Bible. As set forth by John the Kevelator in his last chapter 
and eighth and ninth verses he says: "I fell down to worship be- 
fore the feet of the angel which showed me these things." Then 
sayeth he unto me "See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant 
and of thy brethren the prophets." Other passages of similar pur- 



EVIDENCE OF SOUL SCIENCE IN IMMORTALITY. 331 

port. Nearly all "orthodox'' teachers fly to these sources of evi- 
dence to combat materialism and it is the stronghold to prove prac- 
tically the immortality of the soul. I think we have proof that 
every faculty of the mind when not perverted or abused in some 
way but in a well balanced naturally cultured condition only requires 
hopes or desires that which is right, just and natural for us to have. 
The conditions being favorable, so that our normal hope of immor- 
tality is a natural proof it is for us. 

Even Col. K. G. Ingersoll, the great anti-orthodox, who seems to 
be happy in making home and others happy, said in a lecture on 
Immortality, in Chicago: 

" Oh," but they say to me, "you take away immortality." I do not. If we are 
immortal it is a fact in nature, and we are not indebted to priests for it, nor to 
bibles for it, and it cannot be destroyed by unbelief. 

As long as we love we will hope to live, and when the one dies that we love we 
will say: " Oh, that we could meet again," — and whether we do or not it will not 
be the work of theology. It will be a fact in nature. I would not for my life 
destroy one star of hu^ian hope, but I want it so that when a poor woman rocks the 
cradle and sings a lullaby to the dimpled darling that she will not be compelled to 
believe that niuety-nine chances in a hundred she is raising kindling wood for hell. 
One world at a tim^— that is my doctrine. 

It is said in this Testament: " Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof;" and 
I say : Sufficient unto each world is the evil thereof. And suppose after all fcbat 
death does end all, next to eternal joy, next to being forever with those we love and 
those who have loved us, next to that is to be wrapped in the dreamless drapery of 
eternal peace. 

Next to eternal life is eternal death. Upon the shadowy shore of death the sea 
of trouble casts no wave. Eyes that have been curtained by the everlasting dark 
will never know again the touch of tears. Lips that have been touched by eternal 
science will never utter another word of grief. Hearts of dust do not break. The 
dead do not weep, and 1 had rather think of those I have loved, and those I have 
lost, as having returned, as having become a part of the elemental wealth of the 
world — I would rather think of them as unconscious dust. I would rather think of 
them as gurgling in the stream, floating in tho clouds, bursting in the foam of light 
upon the shores of worlds, I would rather tnink of them as the inanimate and 
eternally unconscious, than to have even a suspicion that their naked souls had 
been clutched by an orthodox ideal Deity. 

But for me, I will leave the dead where nature leaves them. And whatever 
flower of hope springs up in my heart I will cherish; but I cannot believe there is 
any being in this universe who ha3 created a human soul for eternal pain. And I 
wo aid rather that every God would destroy himself; I would rather that wa all 
should go to eternal chaos, to black and starless night, than that just one soul 
should suffer eternal agony, I have made up my mind that if there is a God^ 
he will be merciful to the merciful. Upon that rock I stand. That every man 
should be true to hioiself, and that there is no world, no star, in which honesty is 
a crime. And upon that rock I stand. The honest man, the good, kind, sweet 
woman has nothing to fear, neither in this world nor the world to come. And 
upon that rock I stand. 



332 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Dr. Wheeden. when editing the Methodist Quarterly Review, in 
1876, on page 745, in contending for immortality and combatting 
materialism, said : " Personally we believe the spirit of man sur- 
viving the death of the body has often made itself visible to living 
men * *." We say there are too many well authenticated 
narratives furnished by unimpeachable authority of the actual exist 
ence and disclosure of spirit separate from the body to allow of 
reasonable denial. 

With Henry Moore and Wesley we meet materialism with this 
argument and deny its proof from experience. 

The following is an extraot from a sermon recently delivered by that eminent 
divine, Bishop Simpson, of the M. E. church: "The very grave itself is a passage 
into the beautiful and glorious. We have laid our friends in the grave, but they 
are around us. The little children that sat upon our knee, into whose eyes we look 
with love, whose little hands have clasped our neck, on whose cheek we have im- 
printed the kiss — we can almost feel the throbbing of their hearts to-day. They 
have passed from us, but where are they? Just beyond the line of the invisible. 
And the lathers and mothers who educate us — that directed* and comforted us — 
where are they but just beyond the line of the invisible? The associates of our 
lives, that walk along life's pathway, those with whom we took sweet counsel and 
who dropped from our side— where are they but just beyond us? — not far away, 
but now it may be very near us. Is there anything to alarm us in this thought? 
No. It seems to me that sometimes when my head is on the pillow there comes 
whispers as of joy which drop into my heart thoughts of the sublime and beautiful 
and glorious, as though some angel's wing passed over my brow, and some dear 
one sat by my pillow and communed with my heart to raise my affection toward 
the other and better world. ****** The invisible is 

not dark. It is glorious. Sometimes the veil becomes so thin it seems to me that 
I can almost see the bright forms through it, and my bending ear can almost hear 
the voices of those who are singing their melodious strains. Oh, there is music all 
around us, though the ear of man hear it not; there are glorious forms all about 
us, though in the busy scenes of life we recognize them not. The veil of the future 
will soon be lifted and the invisible will appear." 

These are strong, sweet thoughts from great thinkers that could 
be multiplied by the best thinkers in the world. 

UNSEEN FRIENDS. 

How many are the friends we do not see 
Nor hear, as thro' the open door they come and go, 

With voices full of wonderous melody 
And footsteps soft as sunshine, to and fro. 

We cannot touch their hands, yet they are near, 
Our lips are impotent their language to repeat, 

Their smiles beguile us not, we see no tear 
Nor walk their way adown the mystic street. 



EVIDENCE OF SOUL SCIENCE IN IMMORTALITY. 333 

They lead us, as it were with silken bond, 
They bend above with yearning tenderness, 

The bongs they sing are breaths of memory fond, 
And glint of heaven adorns their shining dress. 

By day, by night, in waiting, hope or pain, 
When the starved lips so long for one caress, 

These friends, whoe'er they be, unsight, unseen, 
With joy upraise their willing hands to bless. 

And when toward home the soul returns alone, 
And the drawn sob of parting wets the wearied eye, 

We hear a mellow murmur in the undertone 
That bids the heart look into gclden sky. 

—P. C. Huntington. 

We find ourselves here in what is called a natural world. There 
is no reason why it should be called anything else; for unnatural 
things are, certainly, not good things. But good things may be 
abused and overdone, and become unnatural. That is the reason 
why it is said, "We, by nature, are prone to evil." Said writer's 
judgment was warped because we may have inherited from ancest- 
ors such dispositions, as the result of their abuse of nature. 

As in the case of Adam and Eve they naturally became ashamed, 
and in that early day began to sew leaves together to cover the 
abused parts of the natural body to prevent temptation, and per- 
haps add comfort to the person. Hence the traditional account of 
the beautiful fruit and its results. But, thank God, man became 
wiser and generally knew right from wrong. And where they 
have cultivated the right they have been happy, and good results 
have followed. Hence there have been many natural born prodigies 
that have been looked up to, if not worshiped. Historians remem- 
ber the best things in nature. That shows there is a divine spark 
of good in man, though he may be called an infidel, that causes 
him to keep an account of the eood things in life, and history 
occasionally represents the evil, hoping the warning may result in 
good. Thus the goodly spark is nourished, cultivated and devel- 
oped till it craves existence after death; naturally cries out for 
immortality. Such men would be ashamed of violating any good 
law of God or man, even in breaking his bones, burning his flesh 
or otherwise carelessly. While sin makes some call for the mount- 
ains to fall on them, and then change their course and hope for 
immortality. 

True life and virtue gives hope and pleasurable anticipations, 
yet cannot be perfectly happy only as they improve and realize 
stronger hope of immortality. Even the well-balanced blind man 



334 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

is cheerful in hopes of realizing his ideals. Bat I am sorry there 
are so many badly organized by inheritance that their sphere must 
be very low, till cultivated away from here or hereafter. Some 
authors speak of man as all immortal. Part of it must be of a 
low order, yet some people propose to take it all to heaven, 
regardless of the seven years' changes that go on in removing the 
worn out material and replacing with new. Yet the mind, under 
the same great law giver, must be of vastly finer fiber or quality 
above the mortal grade, as shown by the tenacity of mind of the 
oldest persons, recollecting their earliest impressions as from the 
camera of life. The mind is not a part of the brain, but the 
factor in its development, all important to its life and force of 
development. Mind power is wonderful and can be made felt far 
and near. Strong ones have thrown their powers hundreds of miles 
on the negative sensitive subjects, as proved by letters dated at the 
time, (see soul power and theory, pages 187 to 195), giving particulars 
in many cases. Again thousands of honest people claim to have had 
communication with departed friends in other spheres of life, and 
verified by known or certain facts among the living. Also per- 
sons dying at great distances often appear to the living, which we 
have no reason to dispute in the light of the known powers of 
mind over mind, which would be positive proof of immortality of 
the soul. 

This indestructible part seems to hold the human body together, 
you will note how quickly the body dissolves when the spirit de- 
parts. Hence the immortal part must have been first formed, and 
be the prototype of the physical. 

The innate desire for immortality is proof additional that the germ 
is within, and as natural as any thing we see, feel or realize from 
the senses. Yet language is inadequate to express .even what I 
feel, realize or know, to make it plain to others. 

There are but few who can demonstrate in any way how the 
fi^rass grows, yet who doubts it. When we see the future in all 
its reality, we won't doubt the continuance of life. How could the 
mind that takes in the universe cease to exist. Is there any reason 
to think the mind could be blotted out. Other things change their 
form, but don't cease to exist. "Mind can create thousands of new 
things out of such as we can find, yet can't comprehend how a 
divine one could do so out of nothing. So we will say that is be 
yond our credulity. 

While the noble, cultivated, intelligent person that comprehends 
the most of nature and the great planetary universe, feels that im- 



PROGRESS OF THOUGHT. 335 

mortality is present with them, and higher spheres of life almost 
tangibly present, and as natural as the divine can make it; why not 
take his word for it, as you do for other things, if you can't com- 
prehend it. 

We may now realize the grossness of this mortal body, and know 
that we can make it still more gross and vile, bringing it below the 
low grade of animal, and degrade the mind to the lowest sphere of 
life much easier than to elevate it, even on the best of Jacob's or 
Christ-like ladders. But the normal man can cultivate, refine and 
purify physically, mentally and morally to a very high degree, so 
that we naturally begin to reason as to what constant culture of the 
mind and soul would bring us to in qualities necessary for future 
spheres of existence ; then with a clearer vision we will realize more 
and more the glory to be attained by so improving as to reach 
beyond the thin veil, and then step by step advance until we recog- 
nize that we are in the inner sanctuary, and still only at the portals 
of the grander and more beautiful beyond in still higher spheres of 
glory and immortality, with higher degrees, to continue for time 
and eternity — spheres of supreme purification and refinement 
beyond our present comprehension. God has planted grand and 
lofty desires in our immortal souls, and natural anxiety to see God 
in all His glory naturally follows. I seem to realize such an 
immortality now, and I no more doubt it than I do my present 
existence here. The science of soul power is practically demon- 
strated on pages 187 to 195. Kead the article carefully. 

PROGRESS OF THOUGHT. 

"To seek for truth, wherever found, 
On Christian or on heathen ground, 
For I doubt not through the ages 

One increasing purpose runs, 
And the thoughts of men are widened 

With the progress of the sun's." 

I will here give a few thoughts only from the Rig Veda, the Brah. 
manism Bible, that has some beautiful thoughts running through 
it, as have many other Bibles, all striving to find out God and duty, 
showing there was a divine spark in man seeking light as far back 
as there was mind and thought, whether that was before Adam or 
not. "The Veda,'' says Max Muller, professor in Oxford Univer- 
sity, "is the most venerable of books," and dates it back centuries 
before Moses. Brahmans date it back 400 years B. C. The object 
to be attained was no doubt the inspiration, even so far back in 



336 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

history as ever since, hence the growing Bibles. The Yeda seems 
to have been the light of the first sparks of knowledge, that has 
radiated through all other religious thought. 

The Yeda says: "Who is the God to whom we shall offer our 
sacrifice?" "He who gives life." "He who gives strength." 
"Whose command all the bright gods revere." "Whose shadow 
is immortality, whose shadow is death." 

"He alone who is God above all gods," 

"The kind mortal is greater than the great in heaven." 

They seemed to recognize the divine in man in their Brahman, 
as others have in Christ, yet sacrificing to the unknown God all 
the time since to appease his anger, still sought inspiration or divine 
illumination. They believed in immortality, saying, "As a man 
throweth away old garments and putteth on new, even so the soul 
having quitted its old mortal frames entereth others which are new." 
— From "Bhagootgeeta." 

They also had many theories of belief, such as incarnation, good 
works, recluse life, the universal spirit and absorption of the divine 
nature, moral duty, the soul its own witness. 

BUDDHAISM IN CHINA, ETC. COMMANDMENTS. 

First — Not to destroy life. 

Second — Not to obtain another's property by unjust means. 
Third — Not to indulge the passions, so as to invade the legal or natural 
rignts of other men. 
Fourth — Not to tell lies. 
Fifth — Not to partake of anything intoxicating. 

OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD. 

Buddha said a man who foolishly does me wrong (or regards me 
as being or doing wrong) I will return to him the protection of my 
ungrudging love, the more evil goes from him, the more good 
goes from me. 

Buddha's followers sought "the illuminating energy of the 
world," so that "passing through the various worlds, we would 
rescue the countless beings yet immersed in sin and in the end 
with them find rest." Thus through love helping each other to 
work out their own salvation, showing Buddha to be a great 
saviour. 



BUDDHA'S IDEA OF GOD. 337 



Before beginning, and without an end, 
As space eternal and as surety sure, 

Is fixed a power divine which moves to good, 
Only its laws endure. 



It will not be contemned of any one; 

Who thwarts it loses, and who serves it gainsj 
The hidden good it pays with peace and bliss 

The hidden ill with pains. 

It seeth everywhere and marketh all; 

Do right — it compenseth; do one wrong — 
The equal retribution must be made, 

Though Dharma tarry long. 

It knows not wrath or pardon; utter, true 

Its measures mete, its fruitless balance weighs; 

Times are as naught, to-morrow it will judge, 
Or after many days. 

By this the slayer's knife did stab himself; 

The unjust judge has lost his own defender; 
The false tongue doomed its lie; the creeping thief 

And spoiler rob to render. 

Such is the law which moves to righteousness, 
Which none at least can turn aside or stay; 
The heart of it is love, the end of it 
. Is peace and consummation sweet. Obey! 

— Sir Edwin Arnold, in "The Light of Asia." 

Confucius — Born 551 years B. C, said: "It is when you go 
abroad to behave to every one as if you were receiving a great guest 
to employ the people as if you were assisting at a great sacrifice 
not to do to others as you would not 'wish done to yourself. 

This looks like the negative from which Christ's great command- 
ment was printed in a positive form. 

Do unto others as you would wish to have them do by you. 

Comfucius also: "What I 'do not wish men to do to me, I also 
wish not to do to men. Also ot perfect virtue required gravity, 
generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness. 

Confucius said of the conduct of life: At fifteen I had a mind bent 
on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no doubts; at 
fifty I knew the decrees of heaven; at sixty my ear was an obedient 
organ for the reception of truth; at seventy I could follow what my 
heart desired without transgressing what was right. 

He also said: 

22 



338 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

How vast the power of spirits — 
They are everywhere above us, 
On the right and on the left. 

Again, The great man is he who does not loose his child's heart. 

Zoroaster, of Persia — Some authors say he lived about Moses' 
time. 

He says: All good do I accept at thy command, O God, and 
think, speak and do it; I believe in thy pure law; hy every good work 
seek I forgetfulness for all sin; I keep pure for myself the service- 
able work and abstinence from the unprofitable. I keep pure the 
six powers, thought, speech, work, memory, mind and understand- 
ing. 

socrates' prater. 

Oh, beloved Pan and all ye other gods of the place, grant me to 
become beautiful in the inner man, and that whatever outward 
things I may have may be at peace with those within. May I deem 
the wise man rich, and may I have such a portion of gold as none 
but a prudent man can either bear or employ. Do we need any- 
thing else, Phsedrus? For myself I have prayed enough. 

PLATO ON WISDOM. 

I mean that wisdom is the only science which is the science of 
itself and of the other sciences as well. Then the wise or temperate 
man, and he only, will know himself and see what others know and 
think that they know, and do really know, and what they do not 
know, and fancy that they know when they do not. No other per- 
son will be able to do this. And this is the state and virtue of 
wisdom or temperance and self-knowledge, which is just knowing 
what a man knows and what he does not know. 

God is Truth and Light. This shows there was a divine spark 
or intuitive preception in those prodigies of their day as named 
before and called savior of men far back of Moses. 

Besides, the^e things show the progress of thought and knowl- 
edge through natural law principles, as plainly as from the acorn 
sprout gradually up through time to the sturdy oak. By looking 
back to the Brahmans, rich Sanscrit, or the sacred language of the 
Hindoos, with their credulity, and on up through Buddhaism and 
many other redeemers for other localities and time up to Moham- 
med, Jesus and Catholicism, where the world nearly stood still so 
long to fight the battles of their varied supposed sacred doctrines, 
that caused devastation of valuable time, property and life, and 



PLATO ON WISDOM. 339 

murder in all of the most hideous forms down to the Inquisition of 
Spain and similar slaughter elsewhere. 

Then that Godlike spark in man's moral nature began to brighten 
and sparkle, and light and knowledge began to spread; yet Galileo 
had to recant to save his head, "But the world moves. " 

Then Protestanism began, and it was an improving protest. But 
soon a protest protested and it has been protest and division, pro- 
test and division ever since; and moral and immoral battles have 
been fought the intelligent world over, till a few years ago there 
were 600 branches. Every one was supposed by some of the ad- 
herents to be perfect, and some infallible and fought the old battles 
over and over again like cats and*dogs, till there is so many of them 
that you can only see a little wiggle of the tail left, and it very 
short. 

But on the three hundred and third round for some of them 
about fifty years ago, they began to falter and then rest, then falter 
and rest, each year since, then doubt and find fault, till the last 
twenty years it has been principally doubt as to the sacredness or 
truthfulness of their doctrines. The revision of the New Testa- 
ment helped many to see their error and remove the infallibility of 
it in many minds, so that for the last few years all living or pro- 
gressive churches are moving formally, or in the spirit of the 
members to change or discard doctrines heretofore thought to be 
true and venerable. Then the still more hopeful sign now is no 
fighting among the churches. Doctrine is a dead letter among the 
more intelligent teachers, ministers, and lahy, they finding some- 
thing better than total depravity with its supposed remedies or 
special providences to talk about. 

Some of them can begin to see that love drives the chariot 
wheels, while the kicking mule tugs away at the mud cart. Still 
many of the churches, that were built on the traditions of the 
fathers, have their cart loaded with stumbling blocks, so heavy 
that the wheel horses (poor fellows that are blind in their right 
eyes and dim vision in the others) have a hard task of it rolling the 
wheels part of the year; while the driver cracks his whip, saying 
something about a theory of salvation, that he nor the hearer can 
comprehend, so out of harmony with God in nature, and every- 
where else in common sense business; where people pay their own 
debts or become defaulters, and suffer the disgrace and penalty. 
God's laws are universal and in harmony, when understood. 

Yet the blind lead the blind and part of the year the cart rolls 
backward, and so back and forth till the ruts are worn so deep the 



340 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

propellers can't see their way out. Perhaps some of them never 
will till they pass over Jordan. Then they will discover what their 
credulity in depravity and its remedies have led them to; disap- 
pointment in their expectations. They will hardly find the de- 
praved, defaulter, thief, fornicator, adulterer, the liar, destroyer of 
the good reputation of a fellow being; the cultivated hypocrite, 
teaching errors that he does not believe, and the murderer (of a 
wicked vile wretch that goes to perdition immediately, according to 
their doctrine) guilty of all the above crimes, gets scared when 
caught, pleads for mercy and forgiveness by God and the church 
and yet swung off into another world by the law and the gallows, 
all in a few days. 

Can you, dear reader, hope or reasonably expect to meet such a 
one high up in glory and happiness, just as your doctrine teaches? 
I think not. 

Now it is not to pull down, but to get rid of the stumbling blocks 
by one that has had forty years of honest, faithful experience; not 
a backslider, but a diligent, progressive thinker, seeking after 
pure light and knowledge of God, and what is best for himself and 
family, and your dear immortal soul. 



Thank God the starlight of the morning of truth is dawning 
when credulity — worse than infidelity — in thought is giving away 
and our Godlike spark of wisdom will open the eyes of all who 
are seeking the light and truth with an honest purpose to better 
their own and other's condition, physically, mentally, and morally, 
so far above the common credulous ideal. 

God's laws seem to be progressive in their very nature, and in 
everything living, moving or existing seems to prove it, so that 
culture at every point seems to be what is required to put us in 
harmon}^ with God's expectations in giving us rule over ourselves 
and this little world, preparatory for higher spheres of life under 
the same universal laws that we see through more clearly, as we 
improve and become more in harmony with the divine spirit. We 
don't expect perfection here or elsewhere, but believe in constant 
improvement everywhere. Neither do we expect plenary inspira- 
tion to guide us or the progressive churches, but the object will be 
the inspiration closer and still closer to God. We will hope and 
think with reasonable prospect that within fifty years or another 
generation there will be more progress made by the churches than 
in a thousand years past in getting rid of the stumbling blocks then 



TIME. 341 

and the brighter illumination of the divine spark in the minds of 
the members will come so they will have abler ministers and higher 
objects in attending than now as well as a clearer idea of God. 

Ring out the false, 
Ring in the true. 

•'Knowing that what is excellent as God lives is permanent." 

" Raising their voices in a chant sublime, 
They sing the glory of the coming time 
"When error shall decay and truth grow strong 
And right shall reign supreme and vanquish wrong." 

" Truth alone is indestructible 
The eternal years of God are hers." 

TIME. 

" Time is indeed a precious boon, 

But with the boon a task is given; 
The heart must learn its duty well, 
To man on earth and God in heaven." 

Old people have learned, by their experience, the great import- 
ance of time and would heartily wish to impress it on the young, 
and we hope those who read this will seek to profit thereby. 

"There is a time to do all things," and for all things that are 
right, yet how few relatively appreciate the importance of time. 
Not thinking, to them it is that part of duration allotted to make a 
good or bad beginning for a great future life, but when we remem- 
ber this fact and appreciate its importance we are constrained to 
look about us and see if we cannot economize the short time we 
may have to mature and wear out in this sphere of action, before 
we take our exit into another. Think of it as only a beginning, 
as it were, only a second of time, yet we cannot compute the end- 
less duration to follow. When we think of this fact how incon- 
siderate must we be to waste or misspend the very short period 
that the average of the human race live, say about thirty-three 
years, or if we should live to a hundred, or more, the time is still 
short for making preparation to move into another state or sphere, 
and to have a good start there, for, rest assured, as you leave this 
you go to that, so far as mind and spirit are concerned. 

You inquire, quite naturally, "What shall I do?" My answer 
would be, seek the means to ' 'know thyself. " Thus learn what 
your natural and acquired ability and means will enable you to do the 
greatest good to the greatest number. And be careful not to set 



342 -PROGRESS OF LITE AND THOUGHT. 

your star too low, and then make good use of your time, and cul- 
tivate body and mind in faithful discharge of duty. Those who do 
not know themselves as well as others know them, occasionally set 
their star too high and fail, but if faithful in the use of the means 
used to promote health and wealth, we may live far beyond many of 
our race or comrades, and accomplish wonderful things in their 
estimation, do good and be honored. It takes steady persevering 
in the best light of the age in which we live, to the close of life 
here. It is well to remember it takes many drops to make the 
ocean,, and many grains to sand the shore, so we must sow much 
seed and cultivate before the harvest comes, or plant one tree at a 
time, prune and guard long and carefully before we get the ripe 
fruit that pleases the palate; with like care and culture of mind and 
heart we will love good works as the ripe fruits and give joy and 
peace beyond time. Having learned by experience that we must 
do one thing at a time, and do it well, requiring patience as well as 
perseverence to economize time. Such experience teaches the nec- 
essity of good rules and order in business, and them lived up to 
carefully. 

One of the greatest importances is probably the proper division 
of time, say eight hours each day faithfully employed in some 
useful avocation that will result in providing for all of the temp- 
oral wants of man, and develop body and mind. 

Then the same length of time, after deducting say two hours for 
partaking of our food, to be spent in reading meditation or such 
places of instruction and pleasure as would develop the mental and 
moral man, thus preparing you to do good at all times. And then 
eight hours for sleep and repose. This we think sufficient for the 
well balanced adult. It will be well for the weak or nervous to 
sleep more if they can, but for the sluggish or lymphatic temperament 
it would be well to come down by degrees strictly to this rule and 
it will aid you in getting rid of surplus flesh and bad habits. You 
will find it better to wear out than rust out. Be cheerful and kind, 
seek those amusements that will be edifying and not waste of time 
or leave a sting in time to come as many do in using profane or 
vulgar language or in reading low, vulgar, trashey and silly books 
and papers, as they say, to kill time. There is reason to fear time 
will hang heavily on such reckless persons in the future if they don't 
mend their ways; if they do, the scar may be left there as a re- 
minder so the fewer the better. To-day is the time to do the right 
and always put off the wrong to do to-morrow. Youth, like the 
morning of each day, is the most precious time of life to commence 



TIME. 343 

good habits. Those that put off till to-morrow that which should 
be done to-day will find it becomes harder to do day by day that 
calls for a change of heart, or mind, or resolution. 

Mr. and Mrs. Procrastination are the worst thieves of time you 
can keep about your premises. He lets his tools lay around and 
rust, so that when he wants to use them they are not tit, and would 
require a long time to put them in order; he neglects the lawn, the 
fences, fails to chop wood, plant trees, plow, sow, reap or mow, 
or strike while the iron is hot; fails to read a good book or to pre- 
pare himself for anything, and when the harvest comes he cannot 
possibly get ready to gather the fruits until the best of it is wasted 
in some way; with a favorable season and an abundant yield 
everywhere else, at the end of the summer he finds that he has not 
enough to pay his expenses, or pay the interest on one or more 
" talents " inherited or acquired by circumstances; then he imposes 
on others and kills time by self -gratification in some bad habit, 
egotistical notions, or talk that wastes other people's time. Mrs. 
Procrastination may have many of the same faults and some 
others. She has no more care than he has for the good rule of 
"early to bed and early to rise;" is sure to have a late breakfast or 
be late in getting ready for it; so it is all daylong, her work always 
pushing her more than she pushes it; she worries, frets, scolds, 
complains, and declares she is "not going to be a nigger all her 
life." If she ever gets to church she is sure to show her new bonnet 
or dress to the best advantage when the congregation is all there by 
coming in last; all eyes turn to her and she undergoes full criticism 
as to appearance and habits, if not reputation and character, as one 
may be good and the other bad. 

This is bad enough, but worse to disturb the domestic peace and 
pleasure, where she has a live, wideawake husband by her sloth- 
fulness. If she has a washing to do frequently puts it off to the 
middle, last or next week, and then can't get at it till nine or ten 
o'clock when the best half of the day is gone. Then "O dear me, I 
have such big, hard washing and the sewing must be done next 
week, for the children and I are getting ragged and dirty," etc. 

No good children ever follow in the footprints of such parents, 
but seek a model elsewhere. 

If it is hard for you to learn to rise early and make everything 
move by a system or order in good time, try and try again. If you 
have to, go to bed when the chickens go to roost to make you feel 
like getting up before the sun and see the grandeur of that glorious 
orb. It will give you brighter thoughts; it will give you additional 



344 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

courage that will help you "get the start and keep it." It will pay 
every way, health, beauty and happiness, besides it is said "the 
early bird catches the worm," and when you get the start it is easier 
to keep it. Like the two women running the race a talking, when 
the second arrived for commencing one of them began promptly 
"I got the start, I'll keep the start," "I've got the start I'll keep 
the start," and so on to the end. Of course she won the prize but 
the other learned a lesson on time. If you are now convinced of 
the importance of time and keeping pace with it from moment to 
moment, from day to day and from year to year, in little things, 
big things and all things, then the present moment, now, to-day — is 
the very time for you to form a firm or determined resolution that 
will guide you as a compass in all your future time and movements 
in life into that straight and narrow path that never leads you to 
the wrong place. What do you say now\ Methinks I hear you 
say, I will. 

Then there is good reason to hope you will so cultivate the 
bright and cheery morning of life, that you will have the necessary 
preparation to bear much good fruit in your mature life. Clean 
and fill your lamps in the morning and save shame, if not an ex- 
plosion, in the evening. Forethought saves borrowing and begging 
later. Self respect prompts to action in time. Having done your 
simple duty you have no reason to fear for the future. This course 
will lead to peace, joy and contentment through a consciousness of 
faithful discharge of duty. 

Having divided and subdivided your time as it should be, you 
will find you have no time for fretting, whining or complaining of 
your duties or responsibilities. But you must go at them with a will, 
let them be what they may, and if you do not at first succeed, try 
and try again till you do. Some things may seem hard at first, but 
in time, if they are your duties, they will become a pleasure if you 
have been rightly trained. 

If you have not it will be the more necessary that you should 
persevere, for your own good and that of future generations, to 
cultivate the weak points, and thus become strong and well-balanced, 
which is necessary for the best success. A top must be well poised 
to run well and an unbalanced mind may run astray. Still worse, 
"An idle head is Satan's work shop," then all moves backward or 
downward while all nature says move onward and upward through 
time which is just as necessary for your success as for the sun, 
moon and stars to rise and set at their appointed time. As we find 
ourselves the highest development of natural laws, shall not man 



TIME. 345 

imitate these laws in keeping perfect time in some corresponding 
periodicity? These things, we trust, were not all developed in vain 
or man for no good purpose. Then why should we mar nature and 
happiness by disregarding time? I trust we will do so no further. 
Our natural demands for food, sleep and exercise call for the reg- 
ularity of natural clock work for our own good and happiness. 
Still we are free agents to modify these things within certain 
bounds to our wants and circumstances. The misuse of time is a 
sin and brings sorrow and suffering. The more closely we observe 
law the more virtuous and happy we will be. 

Let us then have a specified time to rise, bathe, do our chores, 
partake of our meals, labor, study and improve the body and mind 
in every possible way; then pleasure will be mingled all through, 
even to retiring. 

This course will promote health with all its attending blessings 
(frequently prized most by those who lose it), and then we can ac- 
complish so much more in a given time. Mothers could enjoy 
more by putting the little ones to bed, and tucking them up and giv- 
ing them food at regular periods, besides conferring a great favor 
on the rising generation in many ways. If you expect to accom- 
plish much in life, you will have to keep doing or preparing to do, 
all the time. Idleness is the prolific parent of vice, the great clog 
to progression and canker worm of enjoyment. Who ever knew a 
great and good man not literally crowded with things urgent to be 
done — too much so to find any time to waste? 

The greater they are the more incessantly is their time occupied ; 
their greatness consists of their efficiency. We should use our very 
best thoughts and judgment as to what we should do, and what 
first, what is most important, and when done will confer the greatest 
personal and general good and happiness. Remember this as a 
rule of valuation of things to be done, and you will find no time to 
imitate foolish or weak-minded people who spend their precious 
time in worrying if not working to keep pace with the latest fashion 
in dress, or go to the other extreme, away back to the days of yore, 
when even intelligent people tacitly acknowledged -by action that 
tea, coffee, beer, wine, whisky and tobacco, with their degrading 
tendencies, should have a respectable corner in decent society. I 
am grateful that we live in a better day, when people well informed 
on the subject think to the contrary, knowing that they are nar 
cotics, stimulants and poisons, not intended for man in that form, 
and in time will blunt, injure and destroy the mind, make drones, 
or worse, and cut off a large part of natural life; these habits entail 



346 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

evils upon future generations mentally, morally and physically. 
To think of these enormous evils is enough to make one shudder if 
not "seared as with a hot iron." Does it not behoove us to do 
right and use all the influence we have to do away with these evils? 
Water is a beverage prepared by God Himself to nourish and invig- 
orate his creatures. This will leave you a clear head, and not lead 
into evil. 

We are by nature social beings and should cultivate it whenever 
we can do good and receive good, but never impose ourselves on 
others .to kill time. Their time may be very valuable to them, and 
they do not care to use it up in kicking you out. I do not advocate 
much formality in etiquette, but a little training on this subject 
with some people would be a good thing. Some people seem to 
be looking through smoked minds, eyes or glasses; so that a polite 
hint does not suffice, and they soon lose a friend and waste other 
people's time. So take time to study easy, sensible manners. 

When you make an appointment do not be tardy, it is waste of 
other people's time to have to wait on you. It would try your patience 
to have to wait on them; "Do as you would wish to be done by." 
If you promise to pay a debt at a certain time obey this rule. Seek 
to be in harmony with, the highest natural laws of heaven and 
earth, and you will soon enjoy the pleasures of a good conscience; 
and order in everything you do or say, and have a place for every- 
thing and everything in its place, which is one of the best ways 
possible of saving time. Do these things faithfully and you shall 
have my blessing; yea more, God's blessing; and you will be hap- 
pier and make others so, not only in time but eternity. 

Then when our time is ended here we may hope to be worthy of 
having inscribed on our monument: 

He (or she) tried to make home happier and better and the world 
is better by his having lived in it, etc. 

He said: Time is precious; are you improving it? Systematic self- 
culture and good work are the great saviors of mankind. Remem- 
ber this. Try it physically, mentally and morally in harmony, at 
home and abroad, and find heaven a condifion not far off. 

AGED PARENTS. % 

"Old to ourselves, but children yet to be, 
In the strange cities of eternity." 

A. most notable gathering was the one that occurred at the home of A. W. Rich- 
ards, at Indianola, on the 12th inst. It was a birthday party given in honor of 
his mother and his father. It was the eighty-seventh birthday of R. Van Tassell, 
the aged father. Mr. Richards, well known as the invalid soldier of Indianola, 




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AGED PARENTS. 347 

sent out elegant invitations to all the old people in the city who had reached the 
age of eighty. Carriages were sent for them and thus about twenty persons who 
were over four score met and enjoyed the hospitality of Mr. Richards. Some were 
unable to walk and others hardly able to see, but all were able to joke and tell 
stories of the years gone. After dinner Mr. Richards made a short address which 
was felt by all to have been one of the best things of the day. Indianola is proud 
of the fact that in a city of only 2,500 population there can be found so many per- 
sons who have reached such a good old age. May they still see many years and 
enjoy the good things of life whic 1 tbey richly deserve. Further Mr. Richards 
spoke as follows: 

My venerable old friends, for the past week I have anticipated this treat to see 
so many that have had God's blessings in physical health and minds well bal- 
anced as to have steady habits enough to have lived over lour score of years. My 
veneration for your white locks may come to me from my quaker ministeral ances- 
tors, that lived beyond the usual alloted time, but the feeling for such old land 
marks are close akin to one we feel in looking at the snow-capped mountains, that 
seem to grow taller when we look back and contemplate the storms, upheavels and 
tornadoes they have endured, and then when we anticipate the wealth within and 
in like manner the strength of soul that must come of long faithful live? cultivated 
up to the standard of God in nature physically, mentally and morally. 

The anticipations of higher spheres in life where these mortal frames fall off, 
must be very sweet. The winter of life may result in great good and like our 
winters be the harbinger of fruitful seasons. We will not forget the snow invigor- 
ates the roots of the grain, the cold strengthens the trunks of the trees, the winds 
cause the roots to take deeper hold, the heavy ice shut in the fish and protect many 
things and make them better. 

The less vigorous succomb, but we still have the "Survival of the fittest, '' and 
make all nature radiant with its blessings. 

Then you may notice in our colder climates where it requires an effort to live and 
protect ourselves, that it is here the social, moral, intellectual culture makes the 
greatest strides to educate the world up to a higher life. 

Now since you began fighting the battles of life over 80 years ago. you certainly 
have developed great strength of character, if not an abundance of this world's 
goods. You should now shake off all care as to property and maintenance after 
having done your duty well and faithfully in raising families that will now care 
for you. 

Then if we all cultivate a common sense agreeable disposition with due charity 
for each other, all will be provided for here and we may chant sweet melodies in 
the beautiful fields beyond life. May God bless you all. — Herald. 

In concluding this chapter and winter period of a natural life, it 
is fitting that I should make a special plea for the old and infirm 
that are drawing so near the end of their time here. 

May the following lines by Alice Cora Hammond touch a tender 
cord in your heart for those in the Saturday afternoon of life. 

Through flickering leaves the sunlight sifting, 

Falls warmly across the tidy floor; 
The distant voices of gleeful children 

Comes faintly in at the open door. 



348 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

The clock's low rhythm defines the stillness; 

The house is resting from work well done; 
The weary housewife with patient fingers 

Knits 'mid the quiet so hardly won. 

She ponders the day's completed labors, 

Finished betimes, ere the Sabbatrrrest; 
The dainties stored in the well-filled pantry, 

The mended garments, the welcomed guest, 
The toil-worn fingers move slow and slower, 

Her head drops forward, her eyes full soon 
Close in a gentle and child-like slumber, 

As she dreams in the Saturday afternoon. 

She wanders with tireless feet of childhood, 

Through meadows she knew so well of yore, 
And laughs as she fills her tiny apron 

With blossoms fragrant, in boundless store. 
Forms long vanished step in at the doorway; 

Sweet voices sing a forgotten tune; 
Angels ascend and descend before her, 

As she rests in the Saturday afternoon. 

The fading sun sinks under the hill tops, 

The shadows lengthen across the floor; 
The birds chirp softly their good- night carol, 

The children pause at the dark'ning door; 
The tired sleeper no more they waken, 

Pale in the rays of the harvest moon; 
She waits the dawn of an endless Sabbath, 

Gone home in the Saturday afternoon. 

Aged parents and grandparents are occasionally treated unkindly 
by their offsprings, who would gladly rid themselves of them, 
apparently forgetting the debt of gratitude they owe to their fathers 
and mothers. Such cold, selfish hearts hardened against the ones 
they once loved with the tenderest, holiest affections, you may say 
can it be possible that anyone can become so hardened? 

Examine yourself from the standpoint of the golden rule and see 
if there is any tinge of such feelings or actions on your part 
towards them. As a human being are you doing all you can to 
make them comfortable and happy ? Was it not your mother who 
watched over you in the hours of infancy ? Was it not she who 
spent so many sleepless nights by your side as you lay in your little 
bed, suffering from disease which she feared might take you, the 
loved one, from her sight; and when the danger was past thanked 
God that her darling's life was spared ? She has earnestly prayed 
for you all along the journey of life, and is still anxious for your 
welfare. Oh, how you loved and trusted her when every childish 



AGED PARENTS. 349 

care and sorrow was poured into her listening ear, and you ever 
found in her a sympathizing friend and counselor ! And your 
father, do you not remember when you used to stand at the window 
and watch him coming from his work where he had labored all the 
day long for weeks, months and years, that you should not want ; 
and when the evening meal was over took you on his knee, 
caressed and told you pretty little stories that interested you, and 
called you his precious child and tried to teach you many things 
that would be useful to you; hoped you might become a good and 
great person, and sent you to school that you might become wise, 
giving you advantages that he never had ? If you fail to became 
wise and useful and an honor to yourself and the world, don't 
reproach those who have done so much for you. 

Stop and think of all these things and where the fault is, before 
you pronounce father and mother burdens. Consider that the vigor 
of life is gone, and they become weak and dependant, that their 
poor old hearts need cheering by pleasant surroundings and smiles, 
mingled with kind, affectionate words. Some of them become very 
sensitive and refined in their feelings, yet say little. Those 
who are sower, fretful and constantly worrying over little things, 
probably had that kind of children to care for when you were 
young, so be patient, loving and kind. It never pays to borrow 
trouble, you will get enough by your own acts and what others 
bring to you. But as you borrowed light, knowledge, food, rai- 
ment ane good cheer from your parents, now pay it back in kind- 
ness and you will have a good conscience. I believe many do this 
cheerfully, others would be glad of the chance to do so. Some 
parents are so afraid of being a burden to their children, that they 
make themselves feel that they are not welcome, when the children 
really enjoy it. 

For these reasons some men and women appear to dread to be- 
come old, yet there is nothing so venerable as the gray hairs where 
there is something as pure as gold within. These may be signs 
that the bloom and vigor of youthful days are passing away, but 
they are also indications that you are stepping into a grander stage 
of even this life's existence, for grand it is to be a noble old man 
or woman. 

As you step down or up into the land of beulah you have a wealth 
of treasured memories and you can afford to smile with a superior 
smile over your sons and daughters. You know more than they 
strong men and bright women though they are. You have been 
over the road where their feet tread so confidently. You know the 



350 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

pit-falls, the ins and outs, the thorns, the joys. You remember 
that when you were twenty years old you thought you knew nearly 
everything, and what you did not know was hardly worth acquir- 
ing; at forty you began to suspect that what you did not know 
would make a large volume; at fifty you knew it would make very 
many of them, and what you knew would make a very small book. 
Now are you convinced that wisdom will not die with you % If so, 
you can smile at the middle-aged about you. Alas ! if there is not 
the enthusiasm of a buoyant life within you, there is the calmness 
and satisfaction of mature judgment. 

You ^know what life really is. You are not easily deceived by 
appearances, and the life to come puts on warmer, richer tints in 
prospect as you draw nearer to the golden portal. If the eye is 
dim, the ear heavy, remember there are lights that die not away 
with the dying sunbeams, there are songs that cease not when the 
singing of the birds is silent. 

A writer in Arthur's Home Magazine says : "I know an old 
man of ninety, of whom the world is scarce worthy, who is both 
blind and deaf. Last week when I sat by his side he said: 'No 
one can rob me of the sounds within ; I hear the sweet voices of 
children and of birds, echoing from the past, but never one harsh or 
wicked sound. I am greatly favored, more than the rest of you, I 
suspect,' with a smile lighting up his pale, spiritual face. 

"We answer in tones suited to his deafness : 'But your blind- 
ness shuts out everything pleasant from you.' 

" 4 Oh, no, you are mistaken, he answers, brightly, 'I do not 
forget my children's faces, or the sunset over there, or that field of 
green, or that grand old oak, I see them all, and much beside, but 
nothing ugly or disagreeable. Oh, I am a happy man.' 

"Dear old man, who shall say you have passed off of the stage 
of action while you preach such a sermon as that? Why, the long 
day of that man's life, active iniiuential and rich in good works, is 
nothing compared to the glory of such a sunset." 

If you, dear reader, are sixty, seventy or eighty years old, do not 
say: "We are passing off of the stage; younger men are taking 
our places; we just step aside for others." Not so; they are only 
on your trail and cannot fill or take your place now. 

When the sun comes up on a summer's day and has business on 
hand, he is very beautiful, and brighter still is he as he sails through 
the white-fleeced clouds; and beautiful still as he sinks to us west- 
wardly, silently and slowly in the horizon. You can look it full in 
the face now, as it seems to hang for a moment without moving, 



AGED PARENTS. 351 

and then there is sheeted all over the landscape such glowing, 
gorgeous colors, that the whole world is glorified. Is not this 
light more beautiful than that at any other time of the day? It soon 
passes from our vision, yet we may see the reflected light on the 
moon and stars. 

Now there is many a matron and many an old man that, during 
their sunset days, are giving us more beauty than at any other 
period of their lives, and when gone, their light will still reflect on 
the stars left behind. Therefore, however venerable you are, 
though your steps are slow and your outward physical functions are 
obstructed, you are not laid aside. Do you say, "Our children 
and neighbors do not take this view." Then your children do not 
deserve their parents and are planting thorns for their own old age; 
your neighbors are incrusted with a coarse materialism. 

There must be something pleasant in having the landscape of a 
well spent life behind you, and below you, so as to take a retro- 
spective view of many things not understood while climbing the 
ladder of life, that now seem quite clear, the mist having vanished 
in the light of some newly discovered law or principle. 

Then in the light of these discoveries, reason by analogy on into 
the future, to get some illuminated glimpses of God's wherefore', to 
have the long up hill all but over, and to find the upland slopes of 
duty all but merging into the table-land of glory. The veil be- 
comes so thin to such that they will not call it a debatable land, 
but seem to see the new sunrise just ahead. There are thousands 
of our fathers and mothers almost there, let us show them the love 
and respect that our late beloved president and the nation showed 
his mother as far as we can. At the inauguration of President Gar- 
field, the following loving touching scene occurred, as described by 
Rev. Boynton in the Cincinnati Gazette: 

At the outer edge and in the center of the gTeat plat f orm erected" at the east 
front of the Capitol for the inauguration ceremonies there was a small one, rising a 
few inches abcve the floor. Along the center of this were three chairs. General 
Garfield sat in the middle one, with President Hayes at his left and the Chief Jus- 
tice at his right. Mrs. Hayes sat back of the Chief Justice with General Garfield's 
mother next to her on the left and Mrs. Garfield next to her. The balustrading along 
the front, heavily draped as it was with flags, almost entirely, if it did not wholly 
conceal these ladies from the vast audience in front, while those who stood back of 
them shut them in from the sight of the mass of officials on the platform. A few 
of the correspondents who had been given seats close to the Presidential party, and 
a few of those near General Garfield as he turned from the platform in common 
with all the rest, saw that he stopped to kiss his old mother, and then his wife who 
sat next her. It was an ao.t as far removed as possible from the spectacular, and 



352 PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

there was scarcely a dry eye in the whale circle which noticed this beautiful act. of 
filial and manly devotion. 

There had been a multitude of moist eyes in the Senate Chamber, as one after 
another of the great crowd there recognized the white haired mother of the Presi- 
dent. There had been many more as she was helped down the steps of the east 
porch and forward to a seat near her son. Her presence was the one touching 
feature in the magnificent pageant. American manhood and the representatives 
of foreign nations uncovered as she passed, to do her honor. To every one, while 
the tears started, there evidently rose up a vision of the long road from widowhood 
and poverty over which she had struggled with her boy, seeing him rise step by 
step from one success and honor to another, up to this position of crowning tri- 
umph. It was the subject of general mention in all the crowds throughout the 
day, and to the honor of all, rough and cultivated, the act was referred to in tones 
that indicated deep feeling, and with eyes which told how strongly the incident 
appealed to the most sacred feelings in the heart of man. 

What memories must have rushed through his mind as, turning from, that plat- 
form a President, his eye rested first upon that aged, white-haired i v ither, and 
under these circumstances he stopped and kissed his mother and the wife who was 
supporting her, while tears stood in the eyes of the little company of witnesses. 
And in thus honoring his mother he surely honored both himself and the high 
office which he holds. 

THE GLORIOUS SUNSET. 

Your father and mother may be just as deserving as was Mrs. 
Garfield, if their sons and daughters have not yet attained to the 
same eminence as her son, who has now preceded her to that goodly 
land, as many of you may yet do e'er your parents take their leave 
of our sphere of life. Our observations here teach us that though 
you are growing old and feeble, it will add to your pleasure to 
keep on developing the immortal mind up to the time you leave 
the body, and then if your children do likewise, they will learn to 
respect your feelings, and remember that old and nervous people 
need love and quiet. 

May the richest blessings of this life and that to come be show- 
ered on all who do their duty to the aged parents. 

REMEMBER. 

Your father's growing old, 

His sight is very dim; 
He leans on his faithful staff, 

For he's weak in every limb. 
His years are well-nigh told, 

His earthly hopes are fled; 
He soon will slumber cold 

Among the silent dead. 

Your mother's old and weak, 
Her locks are thin and gray; 



GENEALOGY OF THE AUTHOR'S FAMILY. 353 

Her aged form is bent, 

She soon will pass away. 
The one who loves you ever, 

You soon shall see no more, 
Until you cross the river, 

And stand on the other shore. 

Be kind to the old folks, then 

They've done enough for you, 
They've braved the storms of life 

With spirits strong and true; 
And, now, when age has come, 

And earthly hopes have fled, 
Oh, share with them your home, 

And cheer their dying bed. 

GENEOLOGY OF THE AUTHORS FAMILY. 

The author is not so much concerned as to where he come from as to "whither 
he goeth." He has no doubt the goodly spark of his very great ancestors was 
among the Adamites or Pre- Adamites, where Cane found his wife and built a city. 
Po'ssiblyamong the cave builders beyond history, or whether it came on through 
animal life, is not important, so it improved all the way through the wars, floods 
and worse religion of the first few thousand years. 

But the first locality that our tradition finds the "survival of the fittest," was in 
West England or Wales, a hardy class of people, "never conquered," and a line of 
Quaker ministers, that seem to have had it- rooted and grounded into their 
faith, for it was bred into our great- grand- lather and our grand-father. 
But I have not had access to their ancient church records, that would probably 
clear up the record of the family many generations, I do not know when they came 
over the briny deep; but find our great-grand-father, Roland Richards, over a cen- 
tury ago was preaching and teaching in New York State, Pennsylvania New Jer- 
sey and Virginia, where he lived at Falmath, Louden, county, or near " Crooked 
Run.*' He had two sons by his first wife, Abijah and Eli, the first Abijah, was 
our grand-father, and Jived in Columbiana county, Ohio, where he had a large 
family. Our father was his youngest son, Eli, named after his uncle. Our Grand- 
Mother Richards' maiden name was Esther -Daniels, and she also was a Quaker 
minister, and lived with us some after grand-fathers' death (1819). She lived 
many years. Now to go back to great-grand-father. His son Eli had a son 
Townsend, that emigated west to Illinois, we think. He had a sister Pheby. Be- 
sides the ancient grandfather had married a second time and had eight daughters. 

I have a dozen of his ancient letters that shows he was a fine scholar and pens- 
man, one of them is dated "Crooked Run," November 25, 1793, which was in 
Louden county, Virginia, written to his son Abijah, our grand-father. He 
speaks of a large number of yearly meetings attended in said adjoining states, 
speaks of the following persons as relatives: Catherine Louis, Townsend Speak- 
man, Samuel Richards, Thomas Harrison, and Bulah Richards as if his sister. 

March 4, 1801, another letter tells of him and wife, son-in-law, Ezekial Cleaver 
and Daniel Holloway, starting from Bridgeport down the Monongahala for the 
"Miamis," till they got to Wayneville, Hamilton county, Ohio, afterward called 
Warren county, as the address was still Warrenville, where he speaks of being 
eighty-three years old in 1811. Soon after he first went to Cincinnati (1801), he 
speaks of having organized the first "Friends" church, and tells something of its 
progress. 

These honored, ancient propaganda's were successful in obeying the command to 
multiply and replenish the earth. 

Our grand-parents, Abijah and Esther Richards' offspring for three generations, 
so far as I know are as follows.* (There may be a thousand ot the fourth generation). 

* Samuel Richards married Rachel Walker, Fairfield, Columbiana county, Ohio. 
Their offsprings are: 

23 



354: PROGRESS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT. 

Elizabeth R. married Mr. Young, a noted pedestrian, East Carmel, Ohio; 
Esther R. married W. M. Booth, Achor, Ohio, and Joseph R. 

* Abijah Richards married Sarah James, Fairfield, Oliio. Th<nrchildren are: 
Daniel R , married three times, Misses -Baker, Walker and Rebecca Great; Mily 

Ann R. married Elasha Blundon, Kansas; Edith R. married Wm. Stocksberry, 
Fairfield, Ohio; Mary R. married Thomas Baker, Kansas; John R. married Marg- 
aret Thomas, Legrande, Iowa; Sarah R. married Jerry Booth. Achor, Ohio; Alfred 
R. married Phoebe Leach, Kansas; Daniel R, married Matilda Peck, Fairfield, Ohio; 
Eli R. married Mary Adas, LeGrande, Iowa; Louisa R. married Alfred Barnes, 
Elktown, Ohio; Elasha R. married Mary Strong, LeGrande, Iowa; Esther Ann R. 
married Henry Lawson, LeGrande, Iowa. 

* Esther Richards married John James, Fairfield, Ohio. 

* Edith Richards married Isaac Davis, Fairfield, Ohio. Their children are: 
Elasha Davis, Salt Lake City; Isaac Davis, Onawa, Monona county, Iowa; 

Esther Tiltson, Onawa, Monona county, Iowa; Ruth Peck, Mount Rose, Iowa; 
Edith Rlter, Colusa. 111.; Harrison Davis, Salt Lake City; Elizabeth Davis, Salt 
Lake City; Elijah Davis, California; Malen Davis, California; Sabina Harrison, 
Ohio. 

* Mary Richards married Caleb Fowler. Their children are: 
Milton Fowler, Springdale, Iowa; Axy Hale. 

* Roland Richards married Tacy Walker, LeGrande, Iowa. Their children are: 
Lydia A. R. married William Hayes, Legrande, Iowa; Lavina R. married An- 
drew D. Hanigan, LaGrande, Iowa; Phcebe R. married David Inman, Quirry, 
Iowa; Matilda R. married Thomas McCool, LeGrande, Iowa; Abijah R. mar- 
ried Ann Hannah, LeGrand, Iowa; Oliver R. married Cordelia Bill, Grannell, 
Iowa; Mily Ann R. married Anthony L. Babb, Tomah Ciity, Iowa; James D. R. 
married Rachel Traybern, LeGrande, Iowa. 

* My father, the youngest of the old stock, is Eli Richards, born June 9, 1847; 
died December 23, 1844, married ELenor Wherry, born October 11, 1809, Indianola, 
Iowa. Their children f and grand children are: 

f Arthur W. Richards (the author), born September 14th, 1832, married Decem- 
ber 6, 1857, Margaret A. McKown, born October 26. 1839. Our children are. 

Preston A., born September 25, 1859; Frank Arthur, born August 7, 1861; 
Mary Ella, born March 9, 1864; John Madison, born July 1, 1868; Stella Captola, 
born November 10. 1868; Simson Bryant, born November 1, 1870; Sterling 
Jewett, born December 30, 1872; Lottie May, born April 15, 1875; Cory Burdette, 
born July 3, 1877; Rosco Hayes, born November 7, 1879. 

f Albert T. Richards, born December 13, 1833, married February 16, 1854, 
Sarah Jane Tiney, born August 22, 1832, Indianola, Iowa. Their children are: 

William Arthur, born December 13, 1854; James L., born November 9, 1856; 
Charles T., born November 7, 1858; Eleanor L. Truett, born December 10, 1860; 
Sarah M. Hines, born November 4, 1863; BurtH., born February 7, 1869; Madi- 
son, born February 29, 1872; Mary May, born September 3, 1873; Alonzo, born 
July 4, 1876. 

f Melissa Ann Richards, born September 6, 1835, married December 17, 1854, to 
Stephen S. Nelson, born August 15, 1833, Wilksville, Ohio. Their children are, 
all near Wilksville, Ohio: 

Elmer E., born July 5, 1856; Sumner S., born Aoril 23, 1858; Elsay A., born 
October 3, 1859; Edward B., born September 16, 1863; Emmet C, born July 21, 
1868; Warren P., bom November 10, 1873; Albert S., born February 18, 1877. 

f Caroline Richards, born June 25, 1837, married March 19, 1865, to Edward S. 
Silcoti, born December 7, 1834, Indianola, Iowa. Their children are: 

Harriett Melissa, born March 2, 1866; Flora Belle, born July 4, 1867; Madison 
Richards, born July 31, 1868; Lewis Edward, born August 9, 1870; Anna Mary, 
born April 20, 1872; Dora Ellen, born December 12, 1874; Stephen Nelson, born 
June 24, 1876; Gerty Caroline, born November 22, 1877. 

t Mark M. Richards, born April 11, 1839, died June 29, 1859. 

t Madison A. Richards, born March 24, 1841, married Anna Mary Stuart, 
Seven-Mile, Ohio. They have one daughter, Leuella. 

f Eli Harry Richards, born October 1, 1843; died less than two years old. 

Mother again married, Russell Van Tassel. Hence I had a half-brother, Perry 
A. Van Tassel, born May 9, 1856; died April 29, 1890. 



GENEALOGY OF THE AUTHOR'S FAMILY. 355 

WHERRY- 

My grandfather, Arthur Wherry, for whom I was named, lived and died near 
East Palestine, Columbiana county, Ohio. His wife, my grandmother's maiden 
name was Nancy Michel 1. They had a large family of which my mother was the 
oldest. Her sisters and one brother with their children are given below. Most of 
the latter have large families. 

Margaret Wherry married Charles Billingsley, New Waterford, Columbiana 
county, Ohio. Their children are: 

Jemima E. Burt, East Palestine, Ohio; Nancy E. Ran dais, East Achor, Ohio; 
Martha A. Grimm, Ohioville, Pennsylvania; Mary J. Martin, New Waterford, 
Ohio; Sarepta Booth, Achor, Ohio; Almia Billingsley, New Waterford. Ohio; 
Frances Watson, New Waterford, Ohio; Alice Watson, New Waterford, Ohio. 

Martha Wherry and Zephania Wherry, Negley, Ohio; Mary Wherry, East Pales- 
tine, Ohio. 

Madison Wherry married Anna Mary Elliott. Their children are: 

Harriet, Alice, Hiram, Meade, Amanda, Maria, Carlton, Anna, Susan, all East 
Palestine, Ohio. 

Alice Wherry married Hiram Booth, East Carmel, Ohio. Their children are: 

Santford Y., East Carmel, Ohio; Tryphena, East Carmel, Ohio; Mary Heald, 
Centerdale, Iowa; Porter, East Carmel, Ohio. 

Nancy Wherry married George Wilson, Beaver, Beaver county, Pennsylnania. 
Their children are: 

Joseph, Railtown, Beaver county, Penn.; Sarah J. Elliott, Darlington, Beaver 
county, Penn.; Alice Bell, Bridgewater, Beaver county, Penn.; Harrison, Beaver, 
Beaver county, Penn.; Clarinda, Beaver, Beaver county, Penn.; Seth, Beaver, 
Beaver county, Penn.; George Beaver, Beaver county, Penn.; Ella, Beaver, Beaver 
county, Penn.; Amanda, Beaver, Beaver county, Penn.; Phcebe Ann Richardson, 
Achor, Ohio; Mary, Emmaline. 

Sarah Wherry married John Rundals, Achor, Columbiana county, Ohio. Their 
children are: 

Wade Rundals, Achor, Ohio; Nancy A. Shaffer, Achor, Ohio; William, Achor, 
Ohio; Esther Jenkins, Achor, Ohio; Laura, Achor, Ohio; Alice, Achor, Ohio; 
Minerva, Achor, Ohio; Adaline, Achor Ohio. 

There are now probably as many more of a later generation, children of the older 
members of the latest generation named above. Multiplying at this rate in about 
fifty years, from two families, what will it be a century hence. Then go on in- 
definitely and imagine what advance in this and everything else will probably be 
made. The world moves, why should we not all improve in every way possible. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
infancy — (Illu stration). 

The good that children do 5 

Sleigh riding 7 

The school teacher 7 

Grandma's dishes 8 

Horses running off . 9 

Festivities 9 

Santa Claus 10 

A little boy's wants 11 

CHAPTER II. 
childhood — (111 u stration) . 

Move 12 

Clearing 12 

Log school house 13 

Vaccination 13 

A rm broke 13 

Buy a farm 14 

Celestial frolics 15 

Move 16 

Our great loss 16 

Broke up 18 

"Speaking out in meeting" - 19 

Play ; 20 

CHAPTER III. 

youth — (Illustration. ) 

Change location 22 

The whisky seller 22 

The drunkard's alphabet 24 

Horse taming 25 

Was thrown 26 

Our cabin home (Illustration) 27 

School days and play 28 

A visit 30 

McMan hung 31 



358 CONTENTS. 

Learning a trade 32 

Learning politics 34 

Youthful religious experience 36 

The minister's daughter 38 

Mother gets married again 40 

My last year about home in Ohio 41 

Brother Albert gets married 42 

Last schooling 42 

You kissed me , 45 

CHAPTER IV. 

TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-EIGHT. 

Westward bound 47 

On the Mississippi 49 

Indians 51 

Lind hunters 52 

Indianola, Towa, and surroundings 53 

Life's conflict 55 

Pioneer pleasures 55 

Bear hunting 57 

Fast in a hollow log with a wildcat 59 

Boy in a dangerous place 60 

A wife murder 60 

Caught and tied 62 

Don't let your angry passions rise 64 

Accidently shot 64 

Work and visit 65 

Overheated 65 

Sister's wedding 66 

"The gates ajar" 66 

A new Jehovah 69 

Entering land 71 

Friends . , 71 

Horse hunting 72 

Found one 74 

Welcome home 76 

The poetry of life 76 

Brothers 79 

Mark's death. 79 

Teaching among the Quakers 79 

Madison 79 

Perry A 82 

The American ideal. . * - 82 

Iowa and her new capitol 83 

The title of Hawkeye 85 

Agricultural products 85 

A Union soldier for senator 85 

World's Fair committee. . 35 

Executive committee 85 



CONTENTS. 359 

CHAPTEK 7. 

SLAVERY AND WAR. 

John Brown's body 88 

Kebellion 88 

Wrongs may be righted 94 

"Banty Tim" 95 

Third Iowa Infantry 97 

Parting with loved ones 99 

In camp 100 

Borrowed trouble 103 

Company G flag 107 

Poem— The War for the Union 107 

My injury and its results 110 

Invalid at home 113 

My employment 116 

Finances 117 

Inventions 118 

The dedication of my cot 120 

When they were new 123 

In business 124 

Footsteps '. 125 

Preston A. drowned 126 

Sister's wedding 127 

Wedding celebrations 127 

Horse trading 128 

Have animals souls 131 

Why we love horses 132 

Do you know? 133 

A mystery explained 134 

A wonderful freak of nature 135 

CHAPTER 71. 

HEALTH. 

Better than gold 136 

Eating sour grapes * 137 

The children 139 

What children eat 139 

Must have medicine. . . .'. 140 

The twins 1 41 

The doctor's child 142 

Artificial child incubation 144 

The medicine man 145 

(rood doctors 146 

Bread 150 

Meat 155 

Fruit and vegetables „ 1 57 

Tea and coffee 159 

Beds 167 



360 CONTENTS 

Treatment of diseases 167 

Doctors choose the longest route 167 

Short route the best 168 

Ague cured , 173 

Fevers 174 

Common sense treatment 175 

Rheumatism 175 

Skin diseases, etc 176 

Spinal diseases 176 

Hot water treatment 177 

Recommendations of Foote's Health Journal 179 

Terrapathy 180 

Leprosy cured 180 

Nursing the sick 182 

Swallowing the Tribune 183 

Magnetism 184 

Noted healers 186 

Soul power theory 187 

Comparison of subtle powers 187 

The divining rod 189 

A singular phenomenon 190 

How to have God on your side . 195 

Cultivating qualities 195 

Treating diseases 196 

CHAPTER VII. 

A trip to Ohio 197 

Abraham Lincoln 197 

The old Kentucky babe 200 

O captain ! my captain ! 202 

Visit brother 202 

Indianapolis Surgical Institute 205 

"Tear Down" tragedy 206 

Is it worth, while 209 

Murder and hung 210 

Kate Shelly 211 

How Kate Shelly crossed the bridge 214 

Memorial day 215 

The bivouac of the dead 217 

A True Ideal Life 219 

The spring time of life 220 

The baby 220 

Baby's fib 221 

Training the babies 222 

The children 22:) 

A bird story for boys 225 

The golden ladder. 226 

Maxims '. 226 

Triplet maxims. 227 

A wise period. 227 



CONTENTS. 261 

Turn ing the tables 228 

My neighbor 229 

The summer season of life 230 

Two with but a single thought 231 

What my lover said 231 

The ways of the world 234 

If at the foot of the ladder, climb 234 

Making home pleasant 237 

Hold up your head like a man 241 

Have you prospered or failed 242 

But remember fathers 242 

The children growing up 243 

The autum of life 244 

Time and order 246 

What was his creed 247 

The money question 249 

The United States beats the world 250 

Circulating medium 251 

Phrenology 253 

A heavenly gossip 255 

Mind reading 257 

Amherst College 259 

Yale College 259 

Meteorology 260 

Practical evolution 262 

Where did the Indians come from 263 

History of great men 264 

Thomas Corwin 265 

Marcus Cicero 266 

Lycurgus 266 

Solon 267 

Romulus 267 

Socrates 267 

Plato . 268 

Hannibal 268 

Alexander the Great 269 

Demosthenes > 269 

Archimedes 270 

Julius Csesar 270 

St. Patrick 271 

Mohamet 271 

A 1 fred the Great 271 

William Tell 272 

Amerigo Vespucci 272 

Joan of Arc 272 

William Penn 272 

Copernicus 273 

John Knox 273 

Christopher Columbus 273 

Martin Luther 274 



862 CONTENTS. 

Q jeen Elizabeth 274 

Mary Stuart. .... 275 

Galileo 275 

William Shakespeare 276 

John Bunyan 276 

Emanuel S wedenborg 276 

Sir Isaac Newton s. . 276 

Benjamin Franklin 277 

Robert Bruce 277 

Peter the Great 277 

John Wesley 278 

Frederick the Great 278 

George Whitefield 279 

Edmund Burke 279 

Noah Webster 279 

Oliver Goldsmith 280 

General La Fayette 280 

Napoleon Bonaparte 280 

The Duke of Wellington 281 

Robert Fulton 281 

Daniel Con nell 282 

Daniel Webster 282 

George Washington 282 

Theodore Parker 283 

Thomas Paine 284 

Alexander II, Czar of Russia 284 

Horace Greeley 285 

Patrick Henry 285 

Charles R. Darwin 286 

Thomas Carlyle 287 

Dr. Hayes, Artie explorer 287 

William H. Seward 287 

Charles Sumner. , 288 

James W. Grimes 288 

Henry Wilson 289 

James A. Garfield 289 

Lieut. Gen. U. S. Grant 290 

The dying commander 291 

All of the presidents of the United States 292 

Cabin philosophy 295 

The winter period of life 296 

Why not be happy 296 

The old folks 298 

The heavenly railroad and load of thinks 304 

A plea for liberality of thought 304 

What wise men say 308 

Fiat vs religion 316 

Religious opinions 320 

God 320 

Holy Ghost 321 

Christ 322 



CONTENTS. 363 

The Bible 323 

Heaven and hell 324 

Probation 325 

Make progress now 325 

There is no death 325 

Angels ... oK't 

The Sabbath 327 

Science of the soul 328 

God wants us all 328 

Evidence of soul science in immortality 3b0 

Unseen friends 332 

Time 341 

Aged parents 346 

Genealogy of the author's family 353 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The author on his cot 2 

Three infants. - 5 

Three children 12 

Three youths 22 

Old cabin home 27 

Sod house and family 47 

Simpson College 53 

Home residence 76 

Iowa State Capitol 83 

World's fair 86 

Original perambulating cot 110 

Wife and I when married 130 

One body with two heads 135 

Lincoln's monument 198 

Kate Shelly 211 

Two ideal babies 220 

Our family group, 1891 244 

Mrs. S. S. N. and M. A. R. D. D 245 

A seven hundred and twenty-five pound man 253 

Mr. Brown, the mind reader 257 

Mrs. E. S. S. and A. T. ft 296 

Aged parents 346 



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